A federal judge in Washington has torched an executive order issued by former President Donald Trump that aimed directly at the high-profile law firm Jenner & Block, calling the move an unconstitutional assault on legal independence and the First Amendment.
The now-defunct order had suspended security clearances for the firm’s attorneys and blocked their access to government buildings and contracts—actions seen by the court as a clear case of political retribution. The reason? Jenner & Block had represented clients and causes that didn’t sit well with Trump’s administration, and once employed a lawyer involved in the Mueller investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Judge John Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled the order “doubly violative” of the Constitution, saying it punished the firm not for its conduct, but for the viewpoints it supported and the clients it chose. “This wasn’t about security,” the court found. “This was about silencing opposition.”
The decision comes on the heels of a similar ruling earlier this month blocking Trump’s attempt to target Perkins Coie—another firm disliked by his administration. Together, the decisions mark a sharp rebuke of efforts to use presidential power to punish political adversaries through legal channels.
In response, a White House spokesperson defended the order as a matter of presidential discretion, while simultaneously slamming Jenner & Block for its work representing Harvard University in a separate lawsuit. The spokesperson accused the firm of promoting “radicalism” and “un-American interests.”
Jenner & Block fired back, saying the ruling vindicated not only their right to advocate for clients but the broader principle that no administration should interfere with legal representation based on ideology. “This was an attack not just on us,” the firm said, “but on the justice system itself.”
Trump’s now-defunct order had accused the firm of waging partisan “lawfare,” criticized its diversity initiatives, and even singled out its pro bono work on issues like transgender rights and immigrant protections. Among its targets: former Jenner attorney Andrew Weissmann, a key figure in the Mueller probe—a connection Trump has never let go of, having repeatedly dismissed the investigation as a “witch hunt.”
Other firms—WilmerHale, Susman Godfrey—are waiting for rulings on similar orders. Meanwhile, several elite firms have reportedly made concessions to avoid being blacklisted by the former president’s team, including pledging large sums in legal services to causes the White House favors.
The Justice Department is expected to appeal the ruling to the D.C. Circuit, where the battle over presidential power and legal independence is far from over.
