For the first time, a court has permanently blocked President Trump from punishing a law firm for political reasons. US District Judge Beryl Howell issued an injunction late Friday prohibiting the enforcement of any portion of Trump's order targeting Perkins Coie, along with a strong denunciation, NBC News reports. "No American President has ever before issued executive orders like the one at issue," the judge wrote in pronouncing the Trump's action unconstitutional, per the New York Times, and "thus null and void."
The executive order, which Trump signed in March, cited the firm's work for Hillary Clinton and Democratic donor George Soros and said Perkins Coie has engaged in "dishonest and dangerous activity," per Politico. Howell, a Barack Obama appointee to the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, could have held a trial in the lawsuit seeking to toss the order. Perkins Coie argued that the executive order was so blatantly coercive that that shouldn't be necessary, and the judge agreed. "The importance of independent lawyers to ensuring the American judicial system's fair and impartial administration of justice has been recognized in this country since its founding era," Howell wrote.
The 102-page ruling also referenced John Adams' decision to represent British soldiers charged in the Boston Massacre and Shakespeare's "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." Trump had tried to restrict Perkins Coie employees' access to government buildings, revoke their security clearances, and order federal agencies to end contracts with the firm and not hire anyone who worked for it. A Perkins Coie spokesperson said Howell's ruling "affirms core constitutional freedoms all Americans hold dear, including free speech, due process, and the right to select counsel without the fear of retribution." (More President Trump stories.)
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