Judge Blocks Trump’s Executive Order Against Susman Godfrey (1)
A DC federal judge on Tuesday temporarily barred the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order targeting law firm Susman Godfrey.
The ruling halts most of President Donald Trump’s April 9 order, which directed agencies to restrict firm employees from accessing federal buildings and threatened Susman Godfrey clients’ federal contracts.
Judge Loren AliKhan said the US didn’t show the law firm is a national security threat or back up Trump’s claims that Susman Godfrey leads efforts to “weaponize” the legal system and works to “undermine” military effectiveness. The firm showed it is likely to succeed on claims that the order is unconstitutional on free speech and due process grounds, she said.
The decision marks the fourth time, after Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block and WilmerHale, that a judge has blocked a Trump executive order targeting a law firm.
Trump’s order is a “vindictive, retaliatory” measure and serves as a “direct assault” on the independence of the judiciary, said Donald Verrilli, a lawyer for Munger, Tolles & Olson who argued before AliKhan on behalf of Susman Godfrey.
Richard Lawson, on behalf of the Justice Department, said the Trump order was not necessarily a sanction or a punishment, and that more time was needed for the administration to issue guidance before the judge could make any determinations.
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