Jenner & Block sues US government over Trump’s executive order
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Jenner & Block has sued the US government over Donald Trump’s executive order that targeted the law firm for its ties to a prosecutor who investigated the president’s alleged collusion with Russia during his successful 2016 presidential campaign.
The lawsuit seeks “to stop an unconstitutional executive order that has already been declared unlawful by a federal court”, the firm said in a statement on Friday, referring to one of the other similar directives Trump has aimed at law firms, which has been challenged in court. Jenner & Block also asked the court to temporarily block the directive.
The executive order, which mirrored other recent directives targeting big law firms, asked federal agencies to suspend security clearances and review or terminate government contracts with the firms or entities doing business with Jenner & Block.
Not fighting the directive “would mean compromising our ability to zealously advocate for all of our clients and capitulating to unconstitutional government coercion, which is simply not in our DNA”, Jenner & Block said.
Harrison Fields, the White House principal deputy press secretary, said: “The Trump administration is working efficiently to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. It is absurd that a multimillion dollar law firm is suing to retain its access to government perks and handouts.”
The lawsuit comes as Trump has taken aim at perceived opponents in Big Law, targeting firms with historical affiliations to the Democratic party or former prosecutors who have probed the president. Similar orders have taken aim at Perkins Coie, WilmerHale and Paul Weiss. Another order directed at Covington & Burling was narrower in scope.
Perkins Coie also sued to block the order against it from taking effect and won a restraining order from a federal judge. With the Jenner lawsuit, a clear division is beginning to emerge in the community of top US law firms — those that have chosen to fight, versus those who have chosen to capitulate to Trump’s demands.
Paul Weiss, a larger firm, struck a deal directly with the president to quash an order it said would have hindered its business, and Skadden Arps is reportedly in talks to head off a similar order against it. Paul Weiss has pledged measures including $40mn of pro bono legal services for causes the administration supports, such as fighting antisemitism and supporting veterans.
The executive orders, as well as the Paul Weiss deal, have sent shockwaves throughout the legal industry, as law firms race to draw up contingency plans in case they are next in line to be targeted by the White House, while weighing existential dilemmas about how to respond to these broadsides.
The order targeting Jenner & Block said Andrew Weissmann, a former partner at the firm who worked on the Russian collusion probe, engaged in “partisan prosecution as part of Robert Mueller’s entirely unjustified investigation”. Then-special counsel Mueller found no evidence of collusion. Weissmann, who is now a professor at NYU law school, has not responded to a request for comment on the order. Trump’s order against WilmerHale cited Mueller’s relationship with the firm, from which he retired in 2021.
The directive against Jenner & Block also said it “abused its pro bono practice to engage in activities that undermine justice and the interests of the United States”, citing what appeared to be cases challenging the administration’s positions on immigration and transgender issues.
