On The Front Lines
Court Warns of ‘Totalitarian’ Overreach, Declares Trump’s Blacklisting of Law Firm Illegal as Civil Liberties Groups Expand Legal Challenge
Documents
Amicus Briefs:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Warning that President Trump’s executive order retaliating against law firms, suppressing opposition and chilling lawful First Amendment activity “is a step in the direction of a totalitarian form of government,” the U.S. District Court for D.C. has ruled in favor of the Perkins Coie law firm.
A broad coalition of legal and civil liberties organizations has been challenging Trump’s use of executive orders to retaliate against law firms that he perceives as political opponents. The coalition, which includes the ACLU, ACLU of DC, Cato Institute, Electronic Frontier Foundation, FIRE, the Institute for Justice, the Knight First Amendment Institute, the National Coalition Against Censorship, the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press, the Society for the Rule of Law, and The Rutherford Institute, filed amicus briefs in a series of cases (Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale and Susman Godfrey) asking the federal courts to strike down the president’s executive orders targeting some of the nation’s largest law firms. The coalition’s briefs challenge the president’s executive orders as an unconstitutional infringement on the rights to free speech, advocacy and due process. In ruling in favor of Perkins Coie, Judge Beryl Howell noted that “those who stood up in court to vindicate constitutional rights and, by so doing, served to promote the rule of law, will be the models lauded when this period of American history is written.”
“That the Trump Administration is weaponizing the government in order to wage a war against dissent, against due process, and against the very foundations of our constitutional republic should be a warning to all Americans,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People. “History shows that when governments claim the power to silence dissent—whether in the name of national security, border protection, or law and order—that power rarely remains limited. These threats against the legal community are just the beginning.”
In an effort to punish a number of major law firms and discourage others from challenging the Trump Administration’s efforts to sidestep the Constitution, President Trump issued Executive Orders directing the federal government to suspend the firms’ security clearances, cease providing all goods and services, terminate any contracts with the firms and those who do business with them, limit the firms’ access to federal buildings and employees, and refrain from hiring employees of the firms.
The intent behind the president’s actions, per former advisor Steve Bannon, is to “put those law firms out of business” in response to the firms using the system of checks and balances to prevent the Administration from violating the Constitution. Additionally, the Trump Administration has used the threat of punishment from these executive orders to compel the speech and advocacy of some large firms by coercing them to agree to provide hundreds of millions of dollars worth of free legal work to serve causes and viewpoints which are favored by the administration, perhaps such as defending police officers who are alleged to have violated the Constitution.
But Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey each challenged Trump’s Orders as being unconstitutional. The legal coalition’s amicus briefs in support of the law firms argue that the Executive Orders infringe the First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and petitioning the government.
Cecillia D. Wang, Ben Wizner, Brian Hauss, and Arthur B. Spitzer at ACLU advanced the arguments in the various amicus briefs on behalf of the legal coalition.
The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties organization, defends individuals whose constitutional rights have been threatened or violated and educates the public on a wide spectrum of issues affecting their freedoms.
Case History
April 15, 2025 • Legal Coalition Challenges Trump’s Use of Executive Orders to Retaliate Against More Law Firms & Erode Checks and Balances
April 03, 2025 • Legal Coalition Challenges President Trump’s Weaponization of Executive Orders to Chill Speech, Suppress Dissent, and Erode Checks and Balances
