This will come as a shock, but the White House can’t just arbitrarily punish law firms for disagreeing with the president. Feel free to pass this message along to Paul Weiss and the crowd.
Fresh off the retaliatory order Trump lodged against Jenner & Block getting struck down — which itself came after the Perkins Coie order got kicked to the curb — a judge just struck down the order purporting to punish WilmerHale.
It clocks in at a whopping 73 pages, but Judge Richard Leon — a George W. Bush appointee for the record — prepared a TL;DR for the mouthbreathers at the DOJ who have to deliver a synopsis for Mar-a-Lago.
This isn’t exactly a surprise. Even within the universe of unconstitutional power grabs, the orders targeting law firms were especially clumsily written. So much so that there’s little justification for the surrendering firms not to stand up for themselves.
At least, through cowardice, the firms helped strengthen the position of firms willing to stand on principle:
This “retaliatory action” is more than “sufficient to deter a person of ordinary firmness in [WilmerHale’s] position from speaking again.” See Aref, 833 F.3d at 258 (internal quotation marks omitted). The Order shouts through a bullhorn: If you take on causes disfavored by President Trump, you will be punished! Other firms facing similar Executive Orders have capitulated to President Trump. See, e.g., Pl.’s SUMF ¶¶ 87–91 (explaining that Paul Weiss reached an agreement with President Trump to revoke the Paul Weiss Order because it was “an unprecedented threat to the firm” (citing Pl.’s MSJ Ex. 26 [Dkt. #16-4] at 168–76)); 13 id. ¶¶ 102–09 (explaining that Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, and Milbank LLP reached agreements with President Trump to proactively avoid Executive Orders); 14 see also Compl. ¶¶ 102–03.
For those keeping score, there’s another exclamation point. We’ve also gotten a federal judge to officially brand those firms as capitulators.
Also, while we’re talking about the score, Trump is still 0-fer here.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
