DOJ Un-Drops Its Appeal Against Law Firms, Files Brief That Gets The First Amendment Exactly Backwards
On Wednesday of last week, I wrote a post about how the Trump administration had quietly given up defending its unconstitutional executive orders targeting law firms. The DOJ was dropping its appea…
So, finally about that 97-page brief that kicks off the appeal. It was filed by political appointees and not the career lawyers who would normally work at this level. (The same appointees who seemed fine with dismissal on last Monday.) That might account for the tone which is more "judges bad" and less "judges make mistakes."
My summary: "My Executive Orders always begin with a declaration of my personal animus behind this retaliation because I am governed by that and not the law. The courts are clearly wrong because you are not the boss of me. I can too revoke security clearances for this reason, because I'm pretty sure you told me so. Also, if I sic the DOJ on specific individuals I hate, that's not retaliation, that's just the DOJ doing law things. And it's unfair for the judges to stop me from kicking these bad, bad law firms out of court rooms and signed contracts because I didn't do that yet — just a written, signed order to do so. And if it helps to rule in my favor, you can ignore the part where I confessed this is all retaliation for political reasons and my hurt feelings."
See https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70694462/perkins-coie-llp-v-doj/ (2026-03-06)
Regarding the security clearance revocation, we have only the #DOJ brief, but it reads a bit more seriously than the rest. #snark #ExecutiveOrder #LawFirms #PerkinsCoie #JennerBlock #WilmerHale #WilmerCutler #SusmanGodfrey #Trump
④ #SusmanGodfrey LLP v. Executive Office of the President (D.D.C. 25-cv-01107, decided 2025-06-27) https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69881953/susman-godfrey-llp-v-executive-office-of-the-president/
(Concerning Executive Order 14263)
> In April 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued an #ExecutiveOrder targeting the law firm Susman Godfrey LLP (“Susman”) based on the clients it represents and the causes it supports. The order was one in a series attacking firms that had taken positions with which President #Trump disagreed. In the ensuing months, every court to have considered a challenge to one of these orders has found grave constitutional violations and permanently enjoined enforcement of the order in full. .... Today, this court follows suit, concluding that the order targeting Susman violates the U.S. #Constitution and must be permanently enjoined.
....
> The court shares that concern. By its own terms, the Order appears to prevent Susman attorneys from interacting with federal agencies — before whom they currently have a substantial amount of business — and even from entering courthouses. .... Because over a third of Susman’s matters are in federal court or require interaction with the federal government, ..., it is evident that the Order will cause Susman significant financial loss if it goes into effect.
....
> Here, the Order goes beyond violating the Constitution and the laws of the United States. The Order threatens the independence of the bar — a necessity for the rule of law. Accordingly, the court concludes that the balance of the equities and the public interest weigh overwhelmingly in favor of granting the permanent injunction.
— Judge #LorenAliKhan, Docket 206
In other news, #Trump has bullied various #LawFirms into promising millions of dollars of free services and at least four firms said no, and won in Federal District Court.
> Trump’s only Big Law victories so far have come outside the courtroom. Nine top law firms ... reached agreements with Trump to provide at least $940 million worth of pro bono services collectively to avoid executive orders.
Last Tuesday, a day after saying in Appellate Court that they planned to abandon their appeal, Trump's DOJ reversed course.
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70694462/perkins-coie-llp-v-doj/
> The administration told a court on Monday that it was abandoning its defense of executive orders targeting the firms. But on Tuesday, the Justice Department abruptly changed its position.
> The move amounted to a dizzying turnabout in one of President Trump’s most audacious — and, many legal experts said, unconstitutional — attempts at subduing potentially powerful adversaries. It created new uncertainty in a legal profession already roiled by the orders, after some of the country’s biggest law firms thought they had put to rest a key part of the president’s retribution campaign less than 24 hours before.
So on Friday, the DOJ is back in court with 97 pages in their opening brief in the appeal.
#PerkinsCoie LLP v. #DOJ (25-5241, Court of Appeals, DC Circuit, 2026-03-06 Brief for Appellants, 97 pages)
(consolidating Jenner & Block LLP v. DOJ, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP v. #ExecutiveOfficeOfThePresident, and #SusmanGodfrey LLP v. #EOP )
A United States district judge has ruled that President Donald Trump’s executive order against Houston-based law firm Susman Godfrey is unconstitutional.
#Court #Houston #Local #National #News #Politics #DominionVotingSystems #ExecutiveOrder #HoustonLawFirms #PresidentDonaldTrump #SusmanGodfrey #TrumpAdministration
The order would have directed federal agencies to terminate contracts with the firm. It also would have suspended Susman Godfrey employees from receiving security clearances to government buildings and directed agencies to refrain from hiring employees of the firm.
US District Judge Loren AliKhan said Trump's order unlawfully retaliated against #SusmanGodfrey for cases it has taken & its efforts to promote racial #diversity, violating the firm's rights to #FreeSpeech & #DueProcess of #law under the US #Constitution.
Finally a tiny bit of good news
US #LawFirm #SusmanGodfrey defeats #Trump #ExecutiveOrder
Law firm Susman Godfrey convinced a judge on Friday to permanently block a White House EO against it, capping a string of court victories for #LawFirms targeted for their association with Trump's perceived enemies.
#FreeSpeech #DueProcess #law #Constitution
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-law-firm-susman-godfrey-defeats-trump-executive-order-2025-06-27/
A United States District Judge on Tuesday blocked most of President Donald Trump's executive order targeting Houston-based law firm Susman Godfrey.
#Houston #Local #News #Politics #Texas #HoustonLaw #LawFirms #PresidentDonaldTrump #SusmanGodfrey
Houston-based law firm Susman Godfrey filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump's administration in response to an executive order directing government agencies to terminate contracts with the firm.
#News #Politics #HoustonLawFirms #LawFirms #SusmanGodfrey #USPresidentDonaldTrump
One of the stranger things about analyzing Downmarket Mussolini's fascist executive orders is the way folks around me are always prepared to write off some of the most dangerous things Der Leader tries to do as mere "petty vindictiveness." Take for example Trump's recent executive orders targeting a law firm that sued Fox News for spreading lies about an electronic voting machine company, and two former members of his previous administration - a DHS official who refuted Trump's blatantly false claims that the 2020 election was rigged for Joe Biden, and a whistleblower he's accusing of Espionage Act violations and has accused of treason in the past. Is this about revenge for our (not so) beloved tangerine tyrant? Of course, but particularly in the first two cases, this is also about establishing Der Führer's "Big Lie" about the 2020 election being rigged against him, as the only officially sanctioned truth the government, and by extension its judiciary branch, should recognize.
First up we have the president signing an executive order designed to punish Susman Godfrey for forcing the Trump regime's quasi-official state news outlet, Fox, to settle with Dominion Voting Systems after they spent literally months openly broadcasting fascist conspiracy theories about the 2020 election (that Trump lost) being rigged:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/09/trump-executive-order-fox-news-law-firm
Trump signs order targeting law firm behind $787.5m Fox defamation suit
"Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday punishing the law firm that helped Dominion Voting Systems obtain a $787.5m settlement from Fox for lies about the 2020 election.
The order against the firm, Susman Godfrey, marks the latest effort by the president to punish attorneys and firms who have opposed his interests.
The order seeks to harm the firm by limiting its attorneys from accessing government buildings, revoking security clearances and essentially making it impossible for it to represent anyone who has business before the federal government."
Like a lot of Trump's efforts to punish or intimidate law firms, this blatantly unconstitutional executive order is mostly about trying to put Susman Godfrey out of business by denying them access to the federal government, and the courtrooms it controls. What's telling here is that Trump isn't even trying to make the argument that the firm broke any laws, or violated any rules; no reason for the executive order was given, and the president has only said
"there were some very bad things that happened with these law firms,” because Trump hasn't found a valid excuse for this ideological policing and he's not ready to just up and admit he's trying to take out his perceived political enemies for A) disputing conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and B) forcing his friends at Fox to pay for its libelous claims about Dominion.
Which then brings us to Trump's blatantly authoritarian use of the DoJ to target two of his political "enemies" that served in his administration, but spoke out against the regime and in Krebs's case, actively debunked "The Big Lie" Trump has been telling about the 2020 election being rigged against him since it happened:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/09/trump-justice-department-critics
Trump orders DoJ to investigate duo who debunked claims of election fraud
"Donald Trump’s persecution of critics intensified on Wednesday when he ordered the justice department to investigate a whistleblower and a cybersecurity director who refuted unfounded claims of election fraud.
The US president signed memorandums targeting Miles Taylor and Chris Krebs, former homeland security officials who served in the first Trump administration."
Look my friends, I'm not expecting you to find much sympathy for a Big Law firm rolling in filthy lucre, or two former fascist collaborators that are now finding out the leopards will indeed eat their faces, but in this situation the "who" of this story, is far less important than the "what." What Trump is doing here is weaponizing the US government to punish folks for contradicting his "enforced unreality" surrounding the 2020 election, and let me assure you that there are a lot of people in the judiciary, legal profession, and media who have gone on record saying that Trump's claims where baseless (fascist) conspiracy theories, so that isn't just a question of the president arguing with the experts about some bullshit he picked up on Fox News. Furthermore, Trumps actions ultimately seek to make his enemies, the enemies of the United States government; this is a classic sign of a state sliding into an authoritarian dictatorship and thus cannot be dismissed as Trump simply being a petulant vengeful manchild.
Smoke em if you got em, because if Trump gets away with this, we're through the looking glass and his every utterance becomes our new reality.
#Trump #Fascism #BigLaw #DoJ #SusmanGodfrey #Authoritarianism #Fox #DominionVotingSystems #TheBigLie #2020USElection #Propaganda #ConspiracyTheories #Targeting #MilesTaylor #ChrisKrebs
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