* The Trump administration is facing legal pushback from some law firms targeted by executive orders. Jenner & Block, for instance, has filed a lawsuit arguing that the order is unconstitutional. Crain’s…

Chicago law firm Jenner & Block sued the Trump administration today, seeking to halt an executive order that could cripple the firm’s ability to represent clients.

The suit, filed in a Washington, D.C., federal court, alleges the administration engaged in unconstitutional retaliation that violates the First Amendment. […]

President Donald Trump targeted Jenner & Block in an executive order earlier this week, noting the role a former member of the firm, Andrew Weissmann, played in the probe of Trump’s links to Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign. […]

Trump has gone after firms and attorneys who were involved in that investigation, including a similar order signed yesterday that goes after the firm WilmerHale, where special counsel Robert Mueller once worked.

* Click here for the President’s order. From the firm’s lawsuit…

Like the prior executive orders targeting law firms, the Order sanctions Jenner for its representation of clients in cases adverse to the government, for its prior association with an individual who has not worked at the firm in four years but has been critical of the President, and for its hiring practices. Each of these grounds, standing alone, is a constitutionally impermissible basis to target Jenner. The Order violates the First Amendment by targeting Jenner for its protected speech; by discriminating based on viewpoint; by seeking to prevent Jenner from petitioning the government on behalf of itself and of its clients, and by leveraging government controls to suppress protected speech and association. The Order violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment by impairing the ability of Jenner and its attorneys to practice law; by creating a list of disfavored firms that is anathema to our scheme or ordered liberating; and by creating a vague set of prohibitions that invite arbitrary enforcement. The Order violates the right to council under the Sixth Amendment by impairing the Firm’s ability to represent its clients in connection with government-facing work, including criminal matters, and by undermining the attorney-client relationship and clients’ right to counsel of their choice.

* Former Presidents of the Chicago Council of Lawyers defended Jenner & Block, and also called Trump’s executive order a violation of constitutional rights. Their press release…

“We strongly support the decision of Jenner & Block to fight in court the blatantly unconstitutional order issued by President Trump against them. As fellow Chicago lawyers we welcome their standing strongly in the tradition of Bert Jenner, a great Chicago lawyer who would be proud of his firm today.

“Lawyers are not spectators to the Constitution; we are its agents. We cannot allow the President to scare law firms and lawyers into silence. Lawyers must refuse to bow to illegal and unconstitutional threats of retribution for having the temerity to represent clients and cases opposing the administration.”

Robert Bennett
Locke Bowman
John Christie
Daniel Coyne
Matt Daniels
George Galland
Jeff Gilbert
Carrie Huff
Gary Johnson
Arnie Kanter
Barry Miller
Judd Miner
David Melton
Paul Mollica
Marty Oberman
Sheli Rosenberg
John Schmidt
Tom Staunton

* Perkins Coie is also challenging Trump’s executive orders. Wall Street Journal…

Perkins Coie, a law firm with Democratic ties, is fighting against President Trump’s executive order that sought to cripple the firm. Despite losing some business, the firm’s biggest clients and superstar lawyers are standing with it.

Perkins Coie’s lawsuit against Trump’s order argues that it is unconstitutional and threatens the firm’s survival. The firm is being represented by Williams & Connolly in the case. […]

When President Trump signed an executive order attacking Perkins Coie, the white-shoe law firm did what most of its rivals have not. It fought back. And so far, its biggest clients and superstar lawyers are standing with it.

“The dishonest and dangerous activity of the law firm Perkins Coie has affected the country for decades,” began Trump’s March 6 order. It sought to cripple a firm that had deep Democratic ties and had tangled with Trump. The order stripped Perkins employees of security clearances, limited their aeat used the firm.

One of Perkins Coie’s Democratic clients is Governor JB Pritzker. Since 2019, Pritzker’s campaign has spent over $3 million on legal services from the firm.

* Related…

* NYT | Trump Administration Live Updates: Law Firms Split on Strategy as Trump Seeks Retribution: Fight or Make a Deal: Jenner & Block also created a website — Jenner Stands Firm — to publicize its filing and to highlight newspaper editorials criticizing the executive orders and comments from law school professors questioning the legality of Mr. Trump’s actions. […] The effort to fight back in a public manner stands in contrast with the way other firms have handled Mr. Trump’s campaign against them. Last week, the law firm Paul Weiss announced an agreement in which Mr. Trump rescinded his executive order against the firm in exchange for it committing to represent clients regardless of their political leanings and pledging $40 million in pro bono legal services to issues Mr. Trump has championed.

* NYT | Judge Assails White House Efforts to Kick Her Off Perkins Coie Case: A judge on Wednesday angrily rejected the Justice Department’s efforts to remove her from considering the law firm Perkins Coie’s request to stop a Trump order that could effectively cripple the firm’s ability to represent its clients. In a blistering decision, the judge, Beryl A. Howell, said that the attempt to kick her off the case threatened to “impugn the integrity of the federal judicial system.” It also signaled an effort to blame any losses the department might ultimately face in the case on her work as a judge rather than on the weakness of its own legal arguments, she added.

* NYT | With New Decree, Trump Seeks to Cow the Legal Profession: Mr. Trump issued the order late Friday night, after a tumultuous week for the American legal community in which one of the country’s premier firms, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, struck a deal with the White House to spare the company from a punitive decree issued by Mr. Trump the previous week. Vanita Gupta, who as a civil rights lawyer and a former Justice Department official has both sued the government and defended it in court, said Mr. Trump’s memo “attacks the very foundations of our legal system by threatening and intimidating litigants who aim to hold our government accountable to the law and the Constitution.”

* Reuters | US conservative, Democratic lawyers urge Bondi to defend lawyers and firms: More than 700 lawyers and legal groups representing diverse viewpoints have signed a letter urging U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to defend the independence of attorneys and law firms, as the Trump administration escalates attacks on some of the country’s top law offices. They said Bondi had a responsibility as the nation’s top government lawyer to oppose attacks on the legal profession and judges. The influence campaign comes a day after the White House targeted a fourth major law firm with an executive order that threatened its business.

* Illinois Attorney General | An Open Letter to the Legal Community Regarding the President’s Attacks on the Legal Profession and the Federal Judiciary: As state attorneys general, we stand for the rule of law. As members of the legal profession and of our state bars, we all must stand together. The President’s attacks on the practice of law must not, and will not, subvert our zealous representation of our clients. We also stand firm in our support of the federal judiciary and judicial independence. We call on our colleagues to denounce suggestions that a judicial decision must be the result of bias simply because the result is undesired. We categorically reject the President’s calls for the impeachment of judges in response to rulings contrary to positions his administration has advanced. As Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a March 18, 2025 statement: “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”

* Politico | Two more law firms targeted by Trump sue to block punishing executive orders: Jenner & Block’s lawsuit contends Trump’s order is an unconstitutional threat to the firm and the legal system itself, seeking 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.” The lawsuit was filed on the firm’s behalf by California-based law firm Cooley LLP.