(Washington) The Trump administration attempted Tuesday to reverse the abandonment of its complaints against several law firms because of their links to critics of the American president or their activities in the field of social justice, a day after having officially renounced them.
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In the spring of 2025, Donald Trump issued decrees against several firms, removing their lawyers’ security clearances allowing them to consult protected information, restricting their access to public buildings and civil servants, or even severing federal contracts with them.
Four of these firms (Perkins Coie, WilmerHale, Jenner & Block, Susman Godfrey) attacked these decrees, which the courts considered unconstitutional.
While it had appealed the decisions favorable to these firms, the Justice Department gave up on Monday, according to court documents.
But in a sudden reversal, the Justice Department on Tuesday asked the appeals court to allow it to ultimately uphold its appeal.
The law firms are opposed to this “unexplained about-face”, indicates the government. He nevertheless argues that the court of appeal has not yet ruled and that it is its prerogative to “pursue this appeal”.
“The government has capitulated, which is an appropriate conclusion to its manifestly unconstitutional attack on Susman Godfrey and the rule of law,” one of the cabinets concerned reacted in a press release before this development.
The American judicial system has “repelled a significant threat”, welcomed Arthur Spitzer, of the civil rights organization ACLU.
This decision “confirms that President Trump cannot punish law firms for representing clients he does not like,” he added in a statement.
Conversely, around ten other firms targeted by similar decrees have concluded agreements with the Trump administration, offering their pro bono legal services to causes supported by it, such as veterans or the fight against anti-Semitism, for a cumulative amount of around a billion dollars.
WilmerHale and Jenner & Block were linked to Robert Mueller, responsible for the investigation into suspected Russian interference in favor of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election.
In his report in 2019, Mr. Mueller, former director of the FBI (the federal police), concluded that there was insufficient evidence of a conspiracy, but noted a series of troubling pressures exerted by the president on his investigation.
Perkins Coie represented Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016 and, in this context, commissioned an investigation into possible collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s team.
