As part of his attempt to rule like an autocrat, President Donald Trump is threatening to destroy major law firms that dare oppose him. By caving to such pressure last week, one big firm — Paul Weiss — chose its own well-being over the survival of our democracy.

That may sound like hyperbole, but it is not. Thus far, the judiciary has been the only effective restraint on the Trump administration’s trampling of the law and the Constitution. With unprecedented executive orders targeting specific firms, Trump is sending a clear warning to lawyers who might dare to oppose him politically or in court: You could be next.

Paul Weiss — the full name is Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP — is a 150-year-old New York-based firm with more than 1,000 lawyers. The firm has traditionally been seen as leaning toward the Democratic Party, just as some other big firms are viewed as inclining toward the GOP. Paul Weiss’s longtime chairman, Brad Karp, was a prominent fundraiser for Kamala Harris during last year’s presidential campaign.

On March 14, Trump signed an executive order suspending all security clearances held by Paul Weiss lawyers and instructing federal agencies to begin canceling all contracts with the law firm or with contractors that employ the firm. Given that Paul Weiss has a long list of major corporate clients, the order created what Karp called “an existential crisis” for the firm.

Trump’s action was also likely unconstitutional. He had previously issued executive orders imposing similar punishments on two other big firms: Covington & Burling, which had done some work for the special counsel who prosecuted Trump, Jack Smith; and Perkins Coie, which had the temerity to represent Hillary Clinton during her 2016 campaign. Perkins Coie promptly marched into court and obtained a temporary restraining order blocking implementation of Trump’s edict, with U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell noting that the Constitution prohibits “bills of attainder” imposing punishment without any trial or judicial hearing. She said the executive order against Perkins Coie “sends chills down my spine.”

That sensation can only be experienced by those who have a spine. The leaders of Paul Weiss decided not to fight but to surrender.

Karp went to the White House last week and met with Trump to negotiate a settlement. According to a statement Trump issued Friday, the firm agreed to “adopting a policy of political neutrality with respect to client selection and attorney hiring; taking on a wide range of pro bono matters representing the full political spectrum; committing to merit-based hiring, promotion, and retention, instead of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies; dedicating the equivalent of $40 million in pro bono legal services during my term in office to support causes including assisting our Nation’s veterans, fairness in the justice system, and combating anti-Semitism.”

In a lengthy email to Paul Weiss partners and employees Sunday, Karp wrote that he feared the firm might not survive even if it went to court and prevailed. The “fundamental problem,” he wrote, was that Paul Weiss’s high-paying corporate clients “perceived our firm as being persona non grata with the Administration.”

“We were hopeful that the legal industry would rally to our side,” Karp wrote. “Disappointingly, far from support, we learned that certain other firms were seeking to exploit our vulnerabilities by aggressively soliciting our clients and recruiting our attorneys.”

It is hard to shed tears for highly paid lawyers, but I do recognize Karp’s plight. And I understand that partners have a fiduciary responsibility to their firms that may require making tough decisions. But Perkins Coie faced the same pressures and chose to fight — a decision I believe was not just more principled but also, in the long run, more pragmatic.

Big Law needs to heed the warning Benjamin Franklin supposedly gave after signing the Declaration of Independence: “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

If Trump can use an executive order of dubious constitutionality to cow one law firm into submission, what is to stop him from doing the same with any other firm he decides to target? And going forward, if Paul Weiss does anything that annoys him — pro bono work for a Democrat he dislikes, for example — what is to stop him from declaring the firm out of compliance with the settlement and issuing a new punitive order?

Trump-friendly firms that try to poach clients need to remember that what goes around does, indeed, come around. If Trump can impose the death penalty on firms that help the political opposition, a future Democratic president can do the same.

All of these firms build their wealth and power upon the rule of law. They have a duty to defend it.

Eugene Robinson writes a column on politics and culture and hosts a weekly online chat with readers. Find him on X at: @Eugene_Robinson.