Not one but two former Big Law partners in President Donald Trump's cabinet bemoaned the assertiveness of the left in pushing its political agenda in remarks before the Federalist Society last week.

But unlike Attorney General William Barr's widely reported comments condemning the "resistance" for the "systematic shredding of norms and the undermining of the rule of law," Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia's remarks about ideological self-censorship within big law firms went largely under the radar.

The former Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner said he was alarmed about a climate where several dozen law firms will put their names on amicus briefs aimed at defending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and asserting that LGBT workers are protected by federal civil rights law, but none are willing to advance the opposite position.