(Photo Andrew Harnik)
More than 500 law firms led by former Obama solicitor general Donald Beaton Verrilli Jr. came out on Friday against an executive order targeting the firm that represented Hilary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016.
President Donald Trump issued an order targeting Perkins Coie’s access to government contracts, buildings and security clearances in early March, prompting the firm to sue the administration.
“The Executive Order at issue in this case, and the others like it, take direct aim at several of the Nation’s leading law firms and seek to cow every other firm, large and small, into submission,” over 500 law firms argued in an amicus brief supporting Perkins Coie.
Trump has issued several orders against major law firms with ties to Democrats that limited their ability to do business with the government.
Some, like Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, the firm that hired former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, have struck deals to provide pro bono services to the administration in exchange for Trump dropping the orders. Others like Perkins Coie have challenged the orders in court.
“On the basis of almost-decade-old allegations, the Executive Order subjects an entire firm, as well as its clients and personnel, to draconian punishment—including the revocation of its attorneys’ security clearances, the potential loss of clients that contract with the United States, and denial of access to federal buildings and facilities,” the law firms’ brief continues. “Such disabilities would threaten the survival of any law firm.”
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 02: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a “Make America Wealthy Again” trade announcement event in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
District Court Judge Beryl Howell temporarily blocked parts of the order involving the firm’s government contracts and access to government buildings in March. She denied the Trump administration’s effort to disqualify her from the case due to “partiality” against the president on March 26, writing their strategy was “designed to impugn the integrity of the federal judicial system.”
Several legal advocacy groups with different ideological leanings, including left-wing groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and others like the Foundation For Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), also joined a brief in support of Perkins Coie on Thursday.
“If allowed to stand, these pressure tactics will have broad and lasting impacts on Americans’ ability to retain legal counsel in important matters, to arrange their business and personal affairs as they like, and to speak their minds,” the organizations wrote.
