Bill
SCR 66
Designates May 1 as Law Day and condemns executive actions aimed at intimidating or deterring legal advocacy and DEI practices by law firms.
Status and classification
- Bill number: SCR 66 (Senate Concurrent Resolution)
- Author / lead: Senator Umberg (per Legislative Counsel’s Digest)
- Introduced: April 24, 2025
- Status: Adopted by both houses; signed by the Speaker of the House; enrolled and filed with the Secretary of State — Res. Chapter 150, Statutes of 2025.
- Fiscal committee: No (no fiscal impact reported)
- Nature: Concurrent resolution — expresses the Legislature’s position and makes a nonbinding designation; does not create enforceable law.
Purpose / intent
- To (1) designate May 1 as “Law Day” in the State to commemorate the role of law and to stand in solidarity with the legal community and (2) formally condemn the use of executive orders and related actions to intimidate, chill legal advocacy, or otherwise deter attorneys and law firms from representing clients or pursuing standard DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) practices.
Key provisions and findings
- Recounts the history of Law Day (introduced by President Eisenhower in 1958; May 1 designated by Congress in 1959) and recognizes routine Law Day observances by courts, bar groups, schools, and community organizations.
- Expresses the Legislature’s view that recent federal executive actions (cited examples and firms) constitute an unlawful attack on the right of Americans to seek counsel and an improper use of presidential power to punish or deter legal representation.
- Lists concrete allegations/instances the resolution cites: revocation of security clearances, denial of access to federal buildings, termination of government contracts, use of federal agencies (e.g., EEOC) against firms for DEI policies, and calls to impeach judges who rule against the President’s interests. Named firms and examples are cited (e.g., Covington & Burling, Perkins Coie, Paul Weiss, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, Susman Godfrey, Morrison Foerster, Cooley, and others).
- Resolves that using executive orders to silence opposition and chill legal advocacy is an unlawful attack on the right to counsel, and that weaponizing the presidency against those who uphold or disagree with the law is an attack on the rule of law.
- Designates May 1 as Law Day in the State to commemorate law’s importance and to signal legislative solidarity with the legal community.
- Directs the Secretary of the Senate to transmit copies of the resolution to the author for distribution.
Who is affected / impact
- The resolution is primarily symbolic: it expresses the State Legislature’s stance and provides public recognition and support for the legal profession and legal advocacy.
- It references and supports law firms and attorneys who have challenged specified federal actions; it may influence public discourse and state-level stakeholder communications but does not alter federal executive authority or create legal remedies.
- No programmatic or budgetary changes result from the resolution.
Procedural / timeline notes
- Committee referrals and votes are recorded in the provided materials; the resolution passed both houses (Senate and Assembly/House), was enrolled, signed by legislative leaders, and chaptered as a resolution (Res. Chapter 150) in July 2025.
- The documents supplied to the analyst also contain unrelated text fragments from other resolutions (e.g., items about tardive dyskinesia awareness, financial literacy, and a Louisiana commemoration). This summary focuses on the SCR 66 text that is repeated in the provided materials (Umberg’s Law Day resolution).
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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