LAW FARE

To right-wing pundits, this amounted to a declaration of war-a legal jihad, in the words of a Wall Street Journal op-ed. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan even proposed legislation that would defund the lawfare activities of state and federal prosecutors. Trumps recent embrace of the term lawfare reflects his understanding of law as a pliable means to a political end, rather than a check on power and an impartial instrument of justice.