A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily froze parts of President Trump’s executive order targeting the law firm Perkins Coie, which claims its past work for Democrats made it a subject of retaliation by the administration.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, an appointee of former President Obama, temporarily blocked the administration from preventing Perkins Coie personnel from entering federal government buildings and requiring government contractors to disclose if they do business with the firm.
Howell said Trump’s order likely violates the First Amendment for retaliating against protected speech and that it also likely runs afoul of due process protections and the Perkins Coie’s clients’ Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
She compared the president to the Queen of Hearts in “Alice in Wonderland,” noting that the rash queen’s outbursts — “Off with their heads!” — are entertaining to read about but “cannot be the reality we are living” under our Constitution.
“Regardless of whether the president dislikes the firm’s clients, dislikes the litigation positions the law firm takes in vigorous representation of those clients or dislikes the results Perkins Coie achieved for its clients,” Howell said, “issuing an executive order targeting the firm based on the president’s dislike of the political positions of the firm’s clients or the firm’s litigation positions is retaliatory and runs head-on into the role of First Amendment protection.”
At the law firm’s request, the temporary restraining order addresses only three of the order’s six sections, an effort to tackle only the “most immediate” harm at this early stage of litigation.
It does not address Trump’s decision to revoke the lawyers’ security clearances, nor a directive to the chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate “large law firms” for potential Civil Rights Act violations.
Wednesday’s hearing came just one day after Perkins Coie sued the administration over the March 6 executive order, titled “Addressing Risks from Perkins Coie LLP.”
Perkins Coie has long drawn Trump’s ire for advising Hillary Clinton during her 2016 presidential campaign and working with Fusion GPS, which is connected to the discredited Steele dossier that contained unflattering allegations about Trump and his connections to Russia.
But his recent executive order is the president’s most sweeping targeting yet of the firm.
“I am sure that many in the legal profession are watching in horror at what Perkins Coie is going through here,” Howell said at Wednesday’s hearing.
Dane Butswinkas, a lawyer representing the firm, equated Trump’s order to a “tsunami waiting to hit.”
He said the law firm has lost clients “each day” since the order was implemented and that the order would affect not only the firm’s 1,200 lawyers but also some 2,500 non-lawyers who work there.
“It truly is life-threatening,” he said. “I’m not here to exaggerate about it. It will spell the end of the law firm.”
Chad Mizelle, chief of staff to Attorney General Pam Bondi, who argued on the government’s behalf, called the law firm’s representations “what ifs, boogeymans and ghosts.”
He urged the judge to reject the temporary injunctive relief sought and to instead defer to Trump’s “clear Article II authority.”
“It is fundamentally the president’s prerogative, not reviewable by courts…whether somebody is trustworthy with the nation’s secrets,” Mizelle said.
“The president has made that finding here,” he said.
Howell told Mizelle that the government’s position “sends little chills” down her spine, suggesting it means the president can bar any person or company from doing business with the government or entering its buildings if it’s his opinion they operate counter to the nation’s interests.
“That’s a pretty extraordinary power for the president to exercise,” the judge said.
Trump’s order marked the second time during his new term going after a Big Law firm he perceives as his enemy.
Trump also moved to restrict security clearances for some attorneys at Covington over its legal assistance to former Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought two criminal cases against Trump. Covington has not yet sought to challenge the order.
Perkins Coie is represented by Williams & Connolly, an elite law firm known for its aggressive fights against the federal government.
Howell called the firm “very brave” for taking on the case, recognizing “they could be next.”
