By David Thomas
(Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Friday overturned President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting Jenner & Block, dealing another setback to his administration’s crackdown on prominent law firms that represented Trump’s political adversaries or employed lawyers who investigated him in the past.
Trump’s order had suspended security clearances for Jenner’s lawyers and restricted their access to government buildings, officials and federal contracting work.
U.S. District Judge John Bates, a Republican appointee, ruled that the directive violated core rights under the U.S. Constitution, mirroring a May 2 ruling that struck down a similar executive order against law firm Perkins Coie.
The Justice Department can appeal Bates’ order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Trump’s order against Jenner accused the firm of engaging in what it described as partisan “lawfare” and taking on cases that undermined U.S. interests.
It referred to the firm’s past employment of Andrew Weissmann, a top federal prosecutor involved in former U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation that detailed Russian contacts with Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Trump has called the Russia investigation a “hoax” and a “witch hunt.”
The order also attacked Jenner’s internal diversity policies and its work providing free legal services on matters including transgender rights and protections for immigrants.
Jenner sued to block Trump’s order, arguing it violated the Constitution’s First Amendment protections against government abridgment of speech and Fifth Amendment guarantee of due process, a requirement for the government to use a fair legal process.
Apart from Jenner and Perkins Coie, two other firms – WilmerHale and Susman Godfrey – have sued the administration to permanently block executive orders he issued against them.
Nine law firms, including Paul Weiss, Milbank, Simpson Thacher and Skadden Arps, have pledged nearly $1 billion in free legal services to causes the White House supports and made other concessions to avoid being targeted by Trump.
The Justice Department has defended Trump’s executive orders against Jenner and other law firms as consistent with the broad reach of presidential authority.
(Reporting by David Thomas; Editing by David Bario and Nia Williams)
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