By Mike Scarcella
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. judge has agreed to temporarily block implementation of President Donald Trump’s executive order to strip security clearances and take other actions against prominent law firm Perkins Coie over its policies promoting workforce diversity and its work for his 2016 election rival Hillary Clinton.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell at a hearing in Washington on Wednesday said she would grant Perkins Coie’s request for a temporary restraining order against Trump’s order, which sought to roll back the firm’s business with federal contractors and the ability of its lawyers to access government officials and hold security clearances.
Perkins Coie, founded in Seattle, sued Trump’s administration on Tuesday, arguing that his executive order violated the firm’s rights under the U.S. Constitution, including protections for free speech, free association and due process.
Trump’s order called for a government review intended to end contracts Perkins Coie currently holds with various federal agencies and a review intended to end the government contracts of the firm’s clients.
According to the lawsuit, at least seven Perkins Coie clients, including a major government contractor, have already withdrawn legal work because of Trump’s order or were considering doing so, costing the firm “significant revenue.”
Government employees have discouraged or blocked Perkins Coie attorneys from attending meetings due to the order, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit marked an escalation of a growing feud between Trump and law firms that he has accused of being aligned against his administration’s interests. Trump in February issued another order targeting the law firm Covington & Burling, though his restrictions were not as broad as those against Perkins Coie.
Covington currently represents Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed during Democratic former President Joe Biden’s administration who brought criminal charges against Trump in two cases.
Perkins Coie and Covington are among more than a dozen prominent law firms that are representing clients in lawsuits challenging Trump administration policies and priorities, including its efforts to curtail immigration, agency grants and transgender rights.
Trump’s order against Perkins Coie criticized the firm over its internal workforce diversity and inclusion policies and its work for Clinton’s presidential campaign. Clinton was the Democratic candidate who lost to the Republican Trump in the 2016 election that first put him in office.
“We have a lot of law firms that we’re going to be going after, because they were very dishonest people,” Trump told the Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures” program on Sunday.
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham and David Bario)
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