Federal judges in DC on Friday partially blocked two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump targeted at Jenner and Block and Wilmerhale Law Firms – temporarily stopped Trump’s attempts to punish prominent law firms associated with his political enemies.
In a lawsuit brought by Jenner and Block, DC District described John Bates Trump’s executive order – aimed at striping the company’s lawyers on any security clarifications they may have, limiting any business they may have before the federal government – as “troubled” and “disturbing.” He said it is targeted at the first change rights and rights of the company and its employee.
Bates, an appointment of former President George W. Bush, temporarily filed the administration from enforcing aspects of the order seeking to limit government officials from cooperating with Jenner and Block officials after he said the government could not provide any substantial answers about how employees from the company threaten national security.
President Donald Trump shows an executive order he signed to announce tariffs for autoimport in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, March 26, 2025.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
The judge said that lawyers representing Jenner and Block showed that they were probably targeted on the basis of their protected free expression rights and that they would suffer irreparable financial damage if fully implemented.
Later Friday, Judge Richard Leon also awarded a temporary restriction order that partly introduced another executive order signed by Trump aimed at the law firm Wilmerhale.
Leon, also appointed by former President George W. Bush, said that several parts of Trump’s order clearly show “retaliatory actions based on perceived view” by employees of Wilmerhale.
“There is no doubt that this retaliatory actions of cold -handful speech and legal advocacy, or that it qualifies as a constitutional injury,” Leon said in his written order after a hearing late Friday.
Leon is now the third federal judge, who largely accepts arguments from law firms targeting Trump that his orders are probably constitutional – and that if implemented, Leon said, Wilmerhale is facing paralyzing losses and its much survival is at stake. “
Both law firms brought a case to the Federal Court Friday to block the executive orders – the same day another major law firm entered into a $ 100 million deal to prevent a similar Trump order.
The lawsuits accuse Trump of having participated in a sweeping campaign to scare large law firms who have represented plaintiffs currently suing the administration or who have represented or at some point hired those he does not like.
Trump’s executive order threatened their futures as well as “the legal system itself,” Jenner and Block said in his trial.
“These orders send a clear message to the legal profession: ceases with certain representations that are adverse to the government and give up on the administration’s critics – or suffer the consequences,” Jenner and Block Suit said. “The orders are also trying to push businesses and individuals to question or even give up their associations with their chosen counseling and to cool legal challenges at all.”
The two companies are the latest companies seeking to address what has been a quick attack in the White House that seeks to target the individual companies that have hired or otherwise represented Trump’s political enemies.
Meanwhile, Trump said Friday that the law firm injured, arps, slate, meagher & Flom signed an agreement to avoid one of his executive orders by giving $ 100 million in Pro Bono work under the Trump administration -including warranties.
The move has sent shock waves through the legal community. The White House is prepared to target several large law firms, sources of ABC News say, and there are ongoing discussions among the best advisers on strategy associated with possibly entering into negotiations with several of them.
Legal scholars have said that there is little legal precedent for Trump’s war against great law, which has created a cooling effect over the legal community, and most will certainly have a cool effect on his opponents who need legal representation against him.
Business’s legal actions come on the heels of a successful effort by the law firm Perkins Coie, which earlier this month ensured a court decision that blocked similar executive action signed by Trump.
