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A federal judge has fully blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order that aimed at punishing the law firm Jenner & Block LLP over alleged “lawfare” practices, saying the order is “doubly violative of the Constitution.”
U.S. District Judge John D. Bates of the District of Columbia, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote in his opinion that Trump’s executive order issued in March singled out the law firm “because of the causes Jenner champions, the clients Jenner represents, and a lawyer Jenner once employed.”
“Going after law firms in this way is doubly violative of the Constitution,” Bates wrote in his ruling. “Most obviously, retaliating against firms for the views embodied in their legal work … violates the First Amendment’s central command that government may not ‘use the power of the State to punish or suppress disfavored expression’.”
“This order, like others, seeks to chill legal representation the administration doesn’t like, thereby insulating the Executive Branch from the judicial check fundamental to the separation of powers,” Bates wrote. “It thus violates the Constitution and the Court will enjoin its operation in full.”
Trump’s initial order against Jenner & Block specifically pointed to its former association with Andrew Weissmann, a lawyer on Mueller’s team during the Trump-Russia probe in his first term.
Trump in the order said that Jenner & Block had “abandoned the profession’s highest ideals, condoned partisan ‘lawfare,’ and abused its pro bono practice to engage in activities that undermine justice and the interests of the United States.”
This is a developing story and more information will be added as it becomes available.
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