A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order trying to punish Democrat-related law firm Perkins Koy, with the company's plaintiffs who alleged the order was unconstitutional and a violation of due process protections.
The ruling from US District Judge Beryl A. Howell comes a day after a lawyer representing law firm Perkins Koy filed a request for an emergency suppression order that would stop Trump's executive order from coming to power.
Among other things, the order called for company employees to be stripped of security clearance and banned access to government buildings. It also called for the termination of the company's existing contracts with government clients.
“It's a pretty extraordinary force for the president to exercise,” she noted at the hearing.
Attorneys for Perkins Coie argued that the executive order was a violation of due-process protections, freedom of speech, and the protections of the Freedom Association under the US Constitution, which effectively halts the company's operations.
FBI agents sues Trump DOJ to block public identification of employees who worked in January. Six surveys
Fox News Digital first reported that President Trump will sign more than 200 enforcement actions on the day of his inauguration. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
“It's really life-threatening,” Perkins Koy's lawyer told the judge. “It would spell the end of the law firm.”
Judge Howell appeared to protect their concerns, noting that at one point during the hearing the Trump administration had denied access to agencies and businesses, “to make the company almost cold” by “making it cold on my spine” that it had acted to label it as a threat.
A lawyer for Perkins Coie argued that the executive order “looks like a tsunami waiting for the company to hit the company” in terms of its impact. Already, they said there is evidence that some of the company's clients have withdrawn or are considering doing so.
The order, signed last week by President Donald Trump, sought to punish Perkins Koy, who has long represented democratic causes and candidates in the 2016 presidential election, including former Trump opposition Hillary Clinton.
The company also played a role in hiring Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that commissioned the so-called “Steel Diger” and released it just before the 2016 election.
Chad Mizzel, Chief of Staff for U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondy, has appeared in federal court to represent the Trump administration in the lawsuit. A hearing and rare court appearance from Mizzel, a senior member of the U.S. Attorney General's Office, comes a week after Trump signed the executive order.
orderThe title, titled “Dealing with Risks from Perkins Coie LLP,” accusing “fraudulent and dangerous activities” of “fraudulent and dangerous activities,” undermines “democratic elections, the integrity of our courts, and honest law enforcement,” while discriminating against their own lawyers and staff through their “diversity, balance and inclusion” programmes.
Axed Government Watchdog says Trump is entitled to fire him
WASHINGTON, DC-February 5: US President Donald Trump with Pam Bondy (c) speaks before being sworn in February 5, 2025 as US Attorney General of the White House's Oval Office in Washington, DC. The Senate confirmed Bondy as Attorney General on Tuesday with a 54-46 vote. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Trump told reporters last week that signing the order was an “absolute honor,” adding that “weaponization” against political opponents “will never happen again.”
However, Perkins Koy's lawyers argue that the Trump administration did that by targeting the company.
“The obvious purpose is to bully people who believe the president recognizes as being unfavourable to his administration's views. Whether these views are presented on behalf of paying clients or biblical clients,” they said in the emergency lawsuit.
A lawyer representing Perkins Coie told Howell that around 25% of the company's total revenue comes from contracts with government clients.
In particular, this is not the first time the Trump administration has tried to limit the work of a particular law firm he sees as potentially opposing his interests.
Earlier this year, Trump issued an executive order targeting Covington & Burling, a law firm representing former special adviser Jack Miss, who was tapped by Merrick Garland in 2022.
However, the order against Covington & Burling was slightly less restrictive, revoking the security clearance of the two lawyers in the company. Like Perkins Coie, they ordered government contracts and client reviews for all companies, but it is unclear whether the reviews forced the contract to end.
Click here to get the Fox News app
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
