Two prominent law firms targeted by the White House sued Friday over virtually identical executive orders, pushing back over edicts meant to punish them over their association with attorneys who have previously investigated President Donald Trump.
The federal complaints filed by Jenner & Block and WilmerHale urge judges to block enforcement of the orders, which seek among other sanctions to suspend security clearances of the firms' lawyers and restrict their employees from having access to federal buildings. The firms say in their lawsuits that the orders, part of a spate of similar actions taken by Trump over the past month, amount to an assault on the bedrock foundations of the legal system and are an unconstitutional form of presidential retaliation.
“Our Constitution, top to bottom, forbids attempts by the government to punish citizens and lawyers based on the clients they represent, the positions they advocate, the opinions they voice, and the people with whom they associate," said the complaint from Jenner & Block, filed in federal court in Washington.
The firms say the days-old orders have already affected their business, with Jenner & Block saying that one client has been notified by the Justice Department that the firm cannot attend a meeting at the building next week.
“That client therefore will either need to attend the meeting without outside counsel or would need to retain new outside counsel before April 3,” the lawsuit says.
Targeted law firms have taken different approaches to executive orders that threaten to upend their business model and chill their legal practice. Besides the two that sued on Friday, the law firm of Perkins Coie, also challenged the Trump order in court and succeeded in getting a judge to temporarily block enforcement. The Paul Weiss firm, by contrast, cut a deal with the White House days after being targeted, with its chairman saying that the order presented an “existential crisis” for the firm and that he wasn't sure it could have survived a protracted fight with the Trump administration.
The executive order against Jenner & Block this week stemmed from the fact that the firm once employed Andrew Weissmann, a lawyer who served on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team that investigated Trump during his first term in office. Weissmann left the firm four years ago.
Mueller has retired from WilmerHale, but the White House executive order from Thursday mentions him as well as another retired partner and a current partner who all served on Mueller's team.
“While most litigation requires discovery to unearth retaliatory motive, the Order makes no secret of its intent to punish WilmerHale for its past and current representations of clients before the Nation’s courts and for its perceived connection to the views that Mr. Mueller expressed as Special Counsel,” the WilmerHale lawsuit says.
