Judge rules that Trump’s shakedown of law firms is unconstitutional, based on its transparent unconstitutionality

Shakespeare in the first graf:

BREAKING: Federal judge rules that President Donald Trump's executive order targeting the Perkins Coie law firm — the first of several such orders — is unconstitutional and, accordingly, "null and void." Background at Law Dork on the original TRO in the case: www.lawdork.com/p/perkins-co…

[image or embed]— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) May 2, 2025 at 3:52 PM

Here is U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell's 102-page opinion, which begins, "No American President has ever before issued executive orders like the one at issue in this lawsuit …." Opinion: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us…

[image or embed]— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) May 2, 2025 at 3:54 PM

The best part is Howell absolutely lighting up the Pierre Laval faction if Big Law:

Howell drips with disdain for the firms who capitulated to the White House and says of those who resisted "will be the models lauded when this period of American history is written." ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show…

[image or embed]— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney.bsky.social) May 2, 2025 at 3:32 PM

“…some clients may harbor reservations about the implications of such deals for the vigorous and zealous representation to which they are entitled from ethically responsible counsel, since at least the publicized deal terms appear only to forestall, rather than eliminate, the threat of being targeted in an Executive Order.” Precisely. Once again, anti-authoritarians should not hire any firms who paid the tribute, both because of the collaborationism itself and because you’d be crazy to pay four figures an hour for the services of a law firm who doesn’t understand how a shakedown works.