A DC federal judge tossed out President Donald Trump’s order targeting Perkins Coie, dealing another blow against the the White House’s efforts to punish law firms for taking up causes against his interests.
Judge Beryl Howell in a late Friday decision barred executive branch agencies from enforcing Trump’s March 6 executive order, calling it an unconstitutional violation of clients’ right to pick their own counsel and the firm’s due process protections. Trump directed agencies to review contracts held by the firm’s clients for possible termination, bar firm personnel from entering federal government buildings, and strip lawyers of their security clearances.
“No American President has ever before issued executive orders like the one at issue in this lawsuit,” Howell wrote “targeting a prominent law firm with adverse actions to be executed by all Executive branch agencies but, in purpose and effect, this action draws from a playbook as old as Shakespeare, who penned the phrase: ‘The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.’”
Perkins Coie was the first of four law firms to sue Trump after being hit with executive orders against them. The firm—along with Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey—won separate temporary restraining orders freezing the parts of orders regarding federal contracts and buildings.
The order against Perkins Coie is “an unprecedented attack” on the “foundational principles” of the American judicial system, Howell said. It “stigmatizes and penalizes a particular law firm and its employees—from its partners to its associate attorneys, secretaries, and mailroom attendants—due to the Firm’s representation, both in the past and currently, of clients pursuing claims and taking positions with which the current President disagrees, as well as the Firm’s own speech.”
Trump targeted Perkins Coie for its involvement with Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Former partner Marc Elias retained Fusion GPS, the Washington intelligence firm behind the Steele dossier that presented unverified allegations of connections between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Judge Howell’s ruling comes after nine other law firms opted to strike deals with the White House to avoid similar executive orders. Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, and others pledged a total of $940 million in free legal services for certain causes backed by Trump and committed to refrain from discriminatory hiring practices to avoid executive action.
The case is: Perkins Coie v. U.S. Department of Justice, D.D.C., 1:25-cv-00716, 5/2/25
(Updated with additional reporting throughout)
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