Friedman Rubin Joins More Than 500 Law Firms Opposing Trump Executive Order Targeting Perkins Coie

504 law firms including Friedman | Rubin have signed onto an amicus brief filed Friday supporting Perkins Coie’s challenge to President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting the law firm.

The lawsuit filed by Perkins Coie in March seeks to permanently block enforcement of an executive order targeting the firm for its diversity-focused hiring efforts and past political representation. The brief says:

In recent weeks, the president has issued not one but five executive orders imposing punitive sanctions on leading law firms in undisguised retaliation for representations that the firm, or its former partners, have undertaken, and more may be in the offing . . . Those orders pose a grave threat to our system of constitutional governance and to the rule of law itself. The judiciary should act with resolve—now—to ensure that this abuse of executive power ceases.

While Perkins Coie is focused on defending itself against the impacts of the executive order, the amici law firms provide their diverse perspective to the court on the impacts of the order:

Amici seek to provide the court with a broader perspective on the threat that the executive order—which is an unconstitutional act of undisguised retaliation for representations that plaintiff has undertaken in the past—poses to the integrity of our adversarial system, to the ability of clients to obtain the zealous representation to which they are constitutionally entitled, and to the rule of law itself.

Former Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, Jr. of Munger Tolles is among the counsel to the amici. He is the second former Solicitor General to represent a party in an action against the government over the president’s executive orders involving large law firms, following Paul Clement’s decision to represent Wilmer Hale in its own lawsuit against the Trump administration.

The brief comes the same day a group of 346 former federal and state court judges also filed an amicus brief in the case supporting Perkins Coie “[T]he order undermines the rule of law by threatening the independence of lawyers and litigants to petition courts to redress their grievances,” the former judges’ brief said. “In particular, the order imposes political restrictions—and viewpoint-based sanctions—not only on lawyers who assert disfavored positions, but on their clients in unrelated proceedings. By restricting the range of permissible legal argument and constraining the professional independence of counsel, the order undermines the constitutional role of the courts as independent forums for adjudicating disputes.”

Perkins Coie sued over the executive order on March 11, claiming that the order was aimed at discouraging representation of certain clients. It also said the order was issued in retaliation for the Seattle-based firm’s representation of former Sen. Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and its defense against the Trump campaign’s efforts to improperly overturn the results of the 2020 election. A day later, Judge Howell entered a temporary restraining order, saying the executive order violated the firm’s right to free speech, association and due process. The judge also cautioned that it would have “a chilling harm of blizzard proportions” on the legal profession if it were allowed to stand any longer. She then directed the Trump administration to tell all federal agencies to withdraw requests for disclosures about government and contractor relationships with Perkins Coie.

A spokesperson for Perkins Coie released a statement on the law firms’ amicus brief Friday. “We are grateful for the support of over 500 law firms, as well as numerous other amici, in our challenge to the unconstitutional Executive Order and the threat it poses to the rule of law,” the statement said.