Trump executive order targeting Jenner law firm unconstitutional, judge rules

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s executive order against the Jenner & Block law firm is unlawful because it violates the First Amendment, a judge ruled late Friday. 

U.S. District Judge John Bates said going after law firms the way Trump has “is doubly violative of the Constitution” because it targets Jenner & Block due to the causes the firm champions, the clients they represent, and a lawyer they once employed.

“This order, like the others, seeks to chill legal representation the administration doesn’t like, thereby insulating the Executive Branch from the judicial check fundamental to the separation of powers,” Bates wrote. “It thus violates the Constitution and the Court will enjoin its operation in full.”

Bates noted that not every firm targeted by the administration opted to sue, seeming to critique those firms who threw in the towel and agreed to give the Trump administration free legal assistance.

“Without ever receiving an executive order, these firms preemptively bargained with the administration and struck deals sparing them. The deals largely mirror Paul Weiss’s, though the price continues to rise: instead of $40 million, these firms have pledged $100 million or more in pro bono legal services the administration has a hand in choosing,” Bates wrote. “And in public statements, the President has floated the prospect of deploying the firms to work on the administration’s own projects, rather than traditional pro bono causes, while acknowledging the firms’ lack of wrongdoing.”

Bates was skeptical of the Justice Department’s arguments during a hearing last month.

In a statement Friday, Jenner & Block said it was “pleased with the court’s decision to decisively strike down an unconstitutional attack on our clients’ right to have zealous, independent counsel and our firm’s right to represent our clients fully and without compromise.”

“This ruling demonstrates the importance of lawyers standing firm on behalf of clients and for the law,” the law firm said. “That is what Jenner will continue to do for our clients — paying and pro bono — as we look to put this matter behind us.”

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell previously struck down Trump’s executive order targeting Perkins Coie, issuing a permanent injunction after finding Trump’s order “violates the Constitution and is thus null and void.”