In recent weeks, some of America’s most powerful law firms have faced a defining choice: do a deal with the White House, or prepare to fight severe restrictions President Donald Trump has placed on firms and lawyers he opposes politically.
Facing potentially ruinous sanctions from Trump because of past or current work he opposes, two high-profile firms cut deals with the White House, fueling fears in some portions of the industry that Big Law would cave to Trump’s tactics, upending how large firms have done business for decades in Washington.
But Friday morning, Jenner & Block, and WilmerHale, two large firms built around litigation and Washington contacts, sued the administration to challenge Trump executive orders targeting them and their clients. The firms accused the government of using unconstitutional executive orders to punish or chill speech it doesn’t like.
The development was an encouraging shift for many lawyers agitating for the industry to stand up cohesively for the rule of law. The staying power of the pushback on Trump remains uncertain. Even if Trump’s orders are found unconstitutional, some lawyers fear damage to their business is already done because new clients may avoid firms that Trump has a grudge against.
While some smaller firms have spoken out against the president’s orders, and even among conservatives the orders have raised constitutional concerns, many big firms have stayed silent hoping to avoid Trump’s wrath.
Two separate judges later Friday issued temporary orders blocking parts of the Trump executive orders against the Jenner, and Wilmer firms, citing likely First Amendment violations. They join a third judge who blocked an earlier executive order against the firm Perkins Coie, which is challenging a similar order targeting it.
Trump has made clear in the language used in preambles of his executive orders that he is settling scores with political opponents. Both Jenner and Wilmer have connections to former special counsel Robert Mueller, who led the Russia investigation into Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Reflecting the disquiet among both Democratic and Republican lawyers, a prominent conservative attorney, Paul Clement, responded within hours of Trump’s executive order against WilmerHale, with a 63-page lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington Friday morning.
“This lawsuit is absolutely critical to vindicating the First Amendment, our adversarial system of justice, and the rule of law,” Clement, who runs his own small litigation firm, said in a statement after filing the case for Wilmer.
The firm also got assurances that some of its larger clients would stick with the firm if it chose to fight,