Susman Godfrey, which helped deliver Dominion Voting Systems a multimillion dollar settlement against Fox News, is suing President Trump over his recent order meant to punish the major law firm.
The firm is suing the administration, arguing that Trump is in violation of the Constitution after he issued the Wednesday executive order seeking to ban its attorneys from accessing government buildings, representing parties that have cases with the government and viewing documents.
“Unless the Judiciary acts with resolve—now—to repudiate this blatantly unconstitutional Executive Order and the others like it, a dangerous and perhaps irreversible precedent will be set,” attorneys representing Susman Godfrey said in a Friday lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
“If President Trump’s Executive Orders are allowed to stand, future presidents will face no constraint when they seek to retaliate against a different set of perceived foes. What for two centuries has been beyond the pale will become the new normal,” lawyers from Munger, Tolles & Olson’s, who are representing Susman Godfrey, said in the filing.
The Hill has reached out to White House for comment.
Susman Godfrey helped Dominion reach a $787 million settlement versus Fox News over the false claims the network aired following the 2020 White House election, which were also promoted by Trump and his supporters.
“Lawyers and law firms that engage in activities detrimental to critical American interests should not have access to our Nation’s secrets, nor should their conduct be subsidized by Federal taxpayer funds or contracts,” the administration wrote in the Wednesday order against the firm.
Trump said the decision to issue the order was warranted to “address the significant risks, egregious conduct, and conflicts of interest” at the Houston-founded law firm.
“We lawyers, just like the President, swear an oath to support and protect the Constitution. If a president can with impunity seek to destroy a law firm because of the clients it represents, then the rule of law itself is in grave danger,” Susman Godfrey’s lawyers said on Friday.
With the Friday lawsuit, Susman Godfrey became at least the fourth prominent firm to fight back against Trump over executive orders targeting Big Law.
Other law firms — WilmerHale, Perkins Coie and Jenner & Block — have also been hit with executive orders from Trump over the companies’ ties to cases against the president or ones that have investigated him. Parts of Trump’s executive orders have been temporarily blocked after the companies filed suit.
Meanwhile, other law firms have reached agreements with the president, including providing pro-bono services. Some, such as Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, were not targeted via executive order, but still sought to make deals with the administration.
Skadden struck a $100 million deal with the Trump White House late last month while earlier in March Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison agreed to provide $40 million in pro bono work on causes backed by the administration.
On Friday, five major law firms — Kirkland & Ellis, Allen Overy Shearman Sterling, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and Latham & Watkins — agreed to a combined over $600 million deal with the Trump administration. The move prompted the withdrawal of letters from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) seeking information about employment practices.
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, which was also not targeted via the executive branch explicitly, reached a deal to provide $100 million-worth of pro bono work this week as well.
