A judge on Wednesday imposed a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration, barring it from enforcing parts of an executive order penalizing a top Democratic-linked law firm that was involved in pushing discredited Russian collusion allegations during the first Trump presidency.
Judge Beryl Howell said during a hearing that Perkins Coie, which aided Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election, successfully proved its firm would suffer irreparable harm “on multiple fronts,” including violations of their First, Fifth, and Sixth amendments, if the emergency relief was not granted.
Howell, an Obama appointee, said targeting Perkins Coie “may be amusing in Alice in Wonderland,” referencing the Queen of Hearts’s infamous line, “Off with their heads!”
“But this cannot be the reality we are living under,” Howell said.
The judge said Trump’s order also had a chilling effect on the legal industry of “blizzard proportions.” She said she planned to issue a written order after the hearing detailing her decision and that she would then set a schedule for a deeper examination of the case.
Trump’s action against Perkins Coie, issued on March 6, involved several provisions, including stripping the firm of its security clearances, canceling government contracts with any entity that uses Perkins Coie, and limiting the firm’s employees from accessing government buildings.
Perkins Coie, which is being represented by another prestigious law firm, Williams & Connolly, challenged three out of five directives in Trump’s order, and the judge agreed to temporarily block all three.
Last month, Trump targeted another major law firm, Covington & Burling, by suspending the security clearances of any lawyers who assisted former special counsel Jack Smith, who led two criminal cases against Trump during the last administration.
Chad Mizelle, Attorney General Pam Bondi’s chief of staff, appeared as one of the attorneys on behalf of the government.
“What we’re talking about is a finding by the president of the United States, which is imminently defensible in law and fact, that Perkins Coie represents a threat to the national security of the United States,” Mizelle said.
An attorney appearing on behalf of Perkins Coie said the firm had more than 1,200 lawyers and that its work for federal agencies represented 25% of its revenue.
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Trump’s executive order “takes a wrecking ball to the rule of law” and “its effects have been immediate” and substantial, the attorney said. Trump had justified his order by arguing that Perkins Coie, which at one point was led by prominent Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias, had attempted to interfere in the 2016 election through its pivotal role in the release of a discredited dossier.
“Notably, in 2016 while representing failed Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Perkins Coie hired Fusion GPS, which then manufactured a false ‘dossier’ designed to steal an election,” Trump wrote. “This egregious activity is part of a pattern.”
A lawyer for Perkins Coie during the 2016 race faced prosecution for lying to the FBI because he told a top FBI official that he was not representing any political clients when he came to the bureau with claims of Trump’s ties to Russia.
The law firm has also long maintained close ties with the FBI, which Trump has said is in need of sweeping reform.