Brickbat: No Right to an Attorney

Ruth Wang fled China with her family due to pressure from authorities over her work as an attorney. In a major crackdown in October 2025, officials arrested 18 members of Zion Church, a Christian church not sanctioned by the Chinese government, including founder and pastor Ezra Jin. Wang was part of the legal team representing the church and its detained members, but Chinese authorities ordered her and her colleagues to dissolve their law practice, VDoor Law Firm, and they told the firm’s attorneys to stop handling Zion Church cases and resign. Some VDoor attorneys were suspended from practicing law for six months, while the firm’s founder, Zhang Kai, lost his law license and was barred from leaving China. Officials contacted Wang while she was on a family trip to Japan and asked to meet with her when she returned; instead, she went to Taiwan, where she is seeking to resettle her family in another country, like the U.S. or Canada.