Revenge
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Trump goes after his perceived enemies. They are fighting back.
The law firm Perkins Coie is suing the Trump administration, alleging that a recent executive order targeting the firm is unconstitutional and aims to punish it for representing clients and causes that are opposed to the administration.
President Trump signed an executive order last week, "Addressing Risks from Perkins Coie LLP," that accused the firm of "dishonest and dangerous activity" that sought to overturn laws and elections, and also said it "racially discriminates against its own attorneys and staff" through its diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
In the lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C., attorneys for Perkins Coie call the executive order "an affront to the Constitution and our adversarial system of justice."
"Its plain purpose is to bully those who advocate points of view that the President perceives as adverse to the views of his Administration, whether those views are presented on behalf of paying or pro bono clients," the lawsuit says..
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/11/g-s1-53218/perkins-coie-trump-law-firm
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Judge says: Um, no.
President Donald Trump’s retaliation against a prominent Democratic-linked law firm is likely unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell blocked the Trump administration from enforcing central provisions of an executive order that seeks to punish the law firm, Perkins Coie, by barring its attorneys from interacting with federal agencies or even entering federal buildings.
Howell said the “retaliatory animus” of Trump’s order is “clear on its face” and appears to violate constitutional restrictions on “viewpoint discrimination.” The executive order, which Trump issued last week, “runs head on into the wall of First Amendment protections,” the judge concluded.
Howell noted that the order would harm not only the firm’s 1,200 lawyers — most of whom had nothing to do with the Russia probe — but its 2,500 non-lawyer employees, from IT staff to secretaries.
The judge said Trump’s order was also flawed because it was issued without any notice to the firm or due process to challenge his determination.
“This may be amusing in ‘Alice in Wonderland’ where the Queen of Hearts yells, ‘Off with their heads!’ at annoying subjects … and announces a sentence before a verdict,” Howell said, “but this cannot be the reality we are living under.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/12/perkins-coie-trump-executive-order-025783
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Lawyers will save us all!
Consider that for a moment.
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President Donald Trump’s executive order that sought to punish the law firm Perkins Coie for working with Hillary Clinton and other Democrats is unconstitutional, “motivated by retaliation” and cannot be enforced, a federal judge ruled late Friday.
The ruling marks the biggest setback so far for Trump’s campaign against law firms that have represented his political enemies — though key provisions of the orders have been blocked as four firms challenged them in court.
“Using the powers of the federal government to target lawyers for their representation of clients and avowed progressive employment policies in an overt attempt to suppress and publish certain viewpoints, however, is contrary to the Constitution, which requires that the government respond to dissenting or unpopular speech or ideas with ‘tolerance, not coercion,’” Judge Beryl Howell wrote in the 102-page decision..
In a lengthy footnote, Howell took aim at other law firms that decided to make deals with the White House to avoid being targeted by the president — including nine that have agreed to contribute nearly $1 billion in free legal services to causes favored by the administration
“Only when lawyers make the choice to challenge rather than back down when confronted with government action raising non-trivial constitutional issues can a case be brought to court for judicial review of the legal merits,” Howell wrote. “If the founding history of his country is any guide, those who stood up in court to vindicate constitutional rights and, by so doing, served to promote the rule of law, will be the models lauded when this period of American history is written.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/02/trump-law-firms-executive-00324973
