Jenner and Block law firm sues Trump after executive orders strip security clearances over Robert Mueller link

Two powerhouse law firms filed suit seeking to block President Donald Trumps executive orders targeting their lawyers and stripping security clearances – calling it an unconstitutional abuse of power. 

One suit, on behalf of the 500-strong legal powerhouse Jenner & Block, names 49 government agencies and cabinet secretaries as defendants.

The 64 page filing says the order violates its First Amendment speech protections, its right to petition on behalf of the government, and its due process rights by effectively prohibiting its lawyers ability to practice.

The suit seeks to use Trumps own words against him – including his statements vowing to go after his political opponents. Trump also said in the Oval Office when inking the order against the firm that it was intended to go after Andrew Weissman, former special counsel Robert Muellers top prosecutor.

Andrew Weissman is the main culprit, Trump said of the former top prosecutor who is now a Trump critic who appears on MSNBC. Trump called him a bad guy. 

The firm says Weissman, who was a partner on two occaions ending in 2021, hasnt worked at the firm for four years, according to the filing by the Cooley law firm.

Two elite law firms filed suit against the U.S. and various agencies over President Trumps executive orders targeting individual firms. Trump has said the orders were due to their association with political opponents like former Special Counsel Robert Mueller 

But Trumps order could hamstring many of its 500 attorneys, who would lose their security clearances and restrict access to federal buildings for its 900 lawyers and staff. 

The order, according to the filing, is meant to coerce law firms and lawyers into renouncing the Administrations critic and ceasing certain representations adverse to the government. 

It also quotes Trump calling Weissmann the Scum of the Earth!!! 

Our Constitution, top to bottom, forbids attempts by the government to punish citizens and lawyers based on the clients they represent, the positions they advocate, the opinions they voice, and the people with whom they associate, according to the complaint.

It cites the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board writing that Trump took the actions to intimidate elite law firms from representing his opponents or plaintiffs who challenge his policies.

Another firm, Perkins Coie, is fighting an executive order tailored against it for representing former Trump rival Hillary Clinton. A judge has blocked the move with a temporary order. 

Yet another firm, Paul, Weiss opted to reach what Trump called a settlement where it agreed to do $40 million worth of pro bono legal work to support the Administrations initiatives. That decision sent shutters through some members of the legal community who feared it would lead to capitulation. The firm cited the need to protect its clients. 

WilmerHale noted that the order targeting the firm faulted it for welcoming back Robert Mueller and his team

Jenner and Blocks suit names 49 agencies and individuals and argues its First Amendment and Due Process rights were violated by the order, which would strip security clearances and keep its staff out of government buildings

Another prominent firm, WilmerHale, is also suing, even as others negotiate settlements to fend off the Trump Administration

 Dear Big Law. This is how it is done, wrote former US Attorney Barbara McQuade, cheering the Jenner & Block suit on X and reprinting the release that the firm stands firm.

The complaint cites the Paul, Weiss deal – and Trumps celebration of it – and said it demonstrates that the Presidents national security concerns do not justify the executive actions against law firms. 

Former Mueller team member Andrew Weissmann no longer works for the firm but returned there after the Russia probe

The suit comes as another prominent firm, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, filed its own complaint challenging the order against it. 

The suit called Trumps orders against law firms an undisguised form of retaliation for representing clients and causes he disfavors or employing lawyers he dislikes. It calls it a personal vendetta that violates multiple foundational safeguards enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

WilmerHale has been a professional home for public servants like Robert Mueller – Trumps nemesis during his first term while overseeing the Russia probe. Two of Muellers top prosecutors, James Quarles and current partner Aaron Zebley, were also associated with it. 

It said Trumps own order makes no secret of its intent to punish the firm. 

It cites the orders language saying it engaged in obvious partisan representations to achieve political ends and the degredation of the quality of American elections, and for welcoming Mueller and his team members back to the firm after the Russia probe.  

Trump has long called the Russia probe part of the witch hunt against him. 

The lead attorney on the WilmerHale suit is Paul Clement, the former U.S. solicitor general who argued on behalf of numerous conservative causes, including the suit seeking to roll back Obamacare. The complaint lists three attorneys working on it. The Jenner & Block complaint lists four lawyers.

Even as the U.S. Government now must prepare to defend against the twin suits, Trump on Friday announced something that he said amounts to a settlement with yet another firm, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom – thereby avoiding an executive order and a potential legal battle for that firm.

Trump said the deal related to merit-based hiring, promotion and retention and that the firm will not deny any representation to clients such as its members or members of politically disenfranchised groups.