A US federal district court judge on Friday permanently enjoined President Donald Trump’s executive order (EO) targeting law firm Jenner & Block LLP (Jenner), ruling that the order violated the First Amendment to the US Constitution because it engaged in viewpoint discrimination.
Judge John D. Bates of the US District Court for the District of Columbia found that Executive Order 14246 presented the law firm with two choices: “change its speech or suffer a serious injury to its livelihood.” The harms were found to be significant and irreparable, justifying an injunction to prevent them from occurring. The decision also noted the impact on Jenner’s future income, of which 40 percent comes from government contractors, because prospective clients may choose other law firms that do not have a government-imposed handicap and a “government-inscribed scarlet letter.” Additionally, Judge Bates found that the order was uniquely harmful because of its focus on pro bono work, leading to a chilling effect on such work in the future.
Judge Bates characterized the EO as retaliation against the firm’s speech, including who the firm has chosen to represent, noting that Section 1 of the EO denounced Jenner’s “partisan representations to achieve political ends” and its support for “attacks against women and children based on a refusal to accept the biological reality of sex.” In permanently blocking the executive order, Judge Bates wrote that the EO “punishes and seeks to silence speech” in an attempt to “insulate the Government’s laws from judicial inquiry.”
The EO, issued March 25, took several immediate actions against Jenner, including suspension of the security clearances held by Jenner employees. This impacted their ability to represent federal criminal defendants, continue ongoing military service unrelated to their work, enter federal buildings, and interact with federal employees. Additionally, the EO ordered government contractors to disclose any business relationship with Jenner and threatened to sever ties with contractors that did business with Jenner.
The order was one of several issued against numerous law firms, singled out for who they represent, the pro bono work they’ve done, and their hiring practices. Court challenges brought by other law firms have blocked similar executive orders, which has been strongly supported by the legal community.
