Republican judge strikes down Trump’s attack on Jenner & Block
By Speaking of those who would rather fight than switch:
A federal judge on Friday struck down an executive order signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year targeting the law firm Jenner & Block, ruling the effort ran afoul of the Constitution’s First Amendment.
The decision from US District Judge John Bates in Washington, DC, represents the second time in recent weeks a judge has thwarted Trump’s attempt to retaliate against a top law firm.
“This order, like the others, seeks to chill legal representation the administration doesn’t like, thereby insulating the Executive Branch from the judicial check fundamental to the separation of powers,” Bates, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, wrote in the ruling. “It thus violates the Constitution and the Court will enjoin its operation in full.”
“The challenged executive order targets Jenner for what it has said and thereby attempts to dampen what it might yet say. That is unconstitutional under any view of the First Amendment,” the judge concluded.
The order from Trump targeting Jenner & Block instructed federal agencies to terminate contracts with the firm and its clients, limited the firm’s access to federal officials and buildings and suspended the security clearances for attorneys at the firm.
Shortly after the law firm sued, Bates paused parts of the order while the case unfolded. But his new ruling goes significantly further by overturning every part of the order.
The opinion is in full here:
BREAKING: Judge John Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, holds that Trump's executive order targeting Jenner & Block is likely unconstitutional — "doubly" — and will be blocked in full. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us…
[image or embed]— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 1:25 PM
The only good think I can say about the firms who disgracefully capitulated is that they make the First Amendment violations particularly easy to prove:
Again, you do not want to hire a law firm that gets an order seeking to punish it for representing clients the government doesn’t like and folds like a Hurricane in the Eastern Conference finals.