Justice Dept. Appeals Court Judgment That Blocked Trump’s Law Firm Sanctions
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department this week appealed a court judgment that blocked sanctions against the law firm of Perkins Coie in what appears to be a resumption of President Donald Trump’s reprisals against lawyers who oppose his policies.
The Justice Department has argued that Perkins Coie represents a national security risk and should be banned from federal buildings and contracts.
The Justice Department’s notice of appeal is filed in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The law firm represented the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee in 2016 during Trump’s first run for the presidency.
Perkins Coie argued successfully earlier this year that Trump’s executive order imposing sanctions was retaliatory rather than representing well-reasoned government policy.
On May 2, U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell issued an injunction to block the executive order against Perkins Coie. She said the order violated clients’ constitutional rights to choose their own attorneys and the law firm’s due process guarantees.
She said the order was “an unprecedented attack” on the “foundational principles” of the American judicial system. She also said the order “casts a chilling harm of blizzard proportions across the entire legal profession.”
The Justice Department’s appeal of the Perkins Coie judgment is the first involving an executive order against a law firm to reach an appellate court. The next step would be the U.S. Supreme Court, which has generally favored Trump’s authority with executive orders.
Nine of the 13 law firms hit by the president’s executive orders have succumbed to the pressure by agreeing to perform $940 million in pro bono services for conservative causes in exchange for having sanctions against them lifted.
They said the severity of the sanctions could shut down their law firms.
In addition to ending their government contracts and banning them from federal courthouses and other buildings, the firms’ attorneys would lose their security clearances, meaning government contractors who are their clients would be forced to cease doing business with them.
Perkins Coie was one of four top tier law firms that sued to block the executive orders. The others are Susman Godfrey, WilmerHale and Jenner & Block. All of them have won injunctions to halt enforcement of the executive orders against them.
They were joined by the American Bar Association in suing the Trump administration.
The American Bar Association’s lawsuit says the president has “used the vast powers of the Executive Branch to coerce lawyers and law firms to abandon clients, causes and policy positions the president does not like,” in violation of the First Amendment.
Seattle-based Perkins Coie was the firm that created the biggest problems for Trump.
While it represented the Democratic National Committee, Perkins Coie hired a research firm that produced a report saying the Russian government was helping Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. It was followed by FBI and congressional investigations that were inconclusive.
Perkins Coie also responded to Trump campaign lawsuits that sought to overturn Joe Biden’s win of the 2020 presidential election. Of the 65 cases the law firm handled, it won 64 of them.
The executive order Trump signed in March accused Perkins Coie of “dishonest and dangerous activity” while also naming its work for Clinton. It said the firm engaged in racial discrimination with its diversity, equity and inclusion program.
Perkins Coie responded to the Justice Department’s notice of appeal by saying it would continue its court battle against Trump’s executive orders that “violate core constitutional freedoms.”
“We look forward to presenting our case to the D.C. Circuit and remain committed to ensuring that the unconstitutional executive order targeting our firm is never enforced,” a statement from the law firm said.
The original case was Perkins Coie LLP v. U.S. Department of Justice et al. in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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