Trump Targets Law Firm for Defending Transgender Rights
Jenner & Block is the fourth law firm targeted with an executive order for challenging President Trump's policies.
Donald Trump has targeted yet another law firm for taking up cases challenging his administration’s anti-transgender policies and for formerly employing a prosecutor involved in a special counsel investigation of his 2016 campaign.
In an executive order, President Trump stripped lawyers from Jenner & Block LLP of security clearances, barred them from entering federal buildings (which could include, in some cases, federal courthouses), and pressured federal contracting agencies to terminate any existing contracts for services that they have with the law firm.
The order declares that Jenner & Block’s actions on behalf of its clients are a threat to national security, undermine U.S. interests, and conduct “harmful activity” through their pro bono work.
“Jenner engages in obvious partisan representations to achieve political ends, supports attacks against women and children based on a refusal to accept the biological reality of sex, and backs the obstruction of efforts to prevent illegal aliens from committing horrific crimes and trafficking deadly drugs within our borders,” the executive order reads. “Moreover, Jenner discriminates against its employees based on race and other categories prohibited by civil rights laws, including through the use of race-based ‘targets.'”
Jenner & Block has been involved in litigation challenging various Trump administration policies, as reported by Reuters.
It was one of several law firms representing transgender clients, winning a court ruling that blocked the government from enforcing Trump’s executive order pulling federal funding from health care providers that offer gender-affirming care to people under age 19.
The firm also represented several immigrant rights groups that are challenging efforts to roll back asylum rights.
The firm had ties to Andrew Weissmann, who served as a longtime deputy to Robert S. Mueller III, who investigated Trump during his first term over alleged links between the Trump 2016 campaign and the Russian government. Weissmann worked at the firm from 2006 to 2011, and returned in 2020 after the special counsel investigation had concluded.
In the order, Trump called Weissmann “unethical” and the investigation an example of a politically motivated “weaponization” of government power.
Trump previously issued similar orders against the firms Perkins Coie, Paul Weiss, and WilmerHale for hiring lawyers connected to the Mueller investigation or for representing clients who sued the federal government.
Last week, he directed the Justice Department to target any law firms challenging his administration’s actions — particularly those dealing with immigration — by stripping their lawyers of security clearances, terminating contracts with the firms, and sanctioning their attorneys for professional misconduct.
Paul Weiss subsequently brokered a deal with Trump to avoid the executive order by agreeing to provide what amounts to $40 million in pro bono legal services to support administration-preferred causes, such as combating antisemitism and supporting veterans. The firm also renounced partisanship in hiring and choosing clients and pledged to audit its employment practices to ensure they are only based on merit.
Perkins Coie sued the administration earlier this month, accusing Trump of exceeding his powers. A federal judge temporarily blocked parts of the order against the law firm, finding that they were likely to succeed on the merits of their claim.
On March 28, Jenner & Block sued the Trump administration, accusing the president of overstepping his authority, even noting that the federal judge in the Perkins Coie lawsuit had declared Trump’s order against that law firm to be unconstitutional.
The lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of attempting to retaliate against and intimidate major law firms that have fought for clients whom Trump has labeled political enemies due to ideological disagreements.
The suit also claims that those actions chill free speech and violate the targeted law firms’ right to freedom of association.
“For more than 100 years, Jenner has stood firm and tirelessly advocated for our clients against all adversaries, including against unlawful government action,” the law firm said in a statement on a special website focusing on its lawsuit. “We once again go to court to do just that. To do otherwise would mean compromising our ability to zealously advocate for all of our clients and capitulating to unconstitutional government coercion, which is simply not in our DNA.”
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