President Donald Trump's administration was just handed another significant loss in court – this time, at the hands of a Republican-appointed federal judge.
In a 52-page order issued Friday, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates (who was appointed by President George W. Bush), Trump's March executive order targeting the law firm Jenner & Block has been permanently blocked. Jenner & Block's attorneys will now once again have access to federal buildings and have security clearances restored.
Bates wrote in the ruling that the executive order was designed to punish Janner & Block because one of its attorneys worked with on former FBI Director and Department of Justice special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Trump during his first term in office. He observed that the order was illegal as it undermined the separation of powers outlined in the U.S. Constitution.
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"This order, like the 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."
The Bush-appointed judge also observed that because Jenner & Block is a 900-person law firm with offices in multiple major cities like Washington D.C., New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and London, its attorneys have to regularly enter federal buildings, interact with federal employees and handle cases that sometimes involve classified information — hence the need for security clearances. And he pointed out that the firm's lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's order brought up "many more claims of unconstitutionality" outside of the concerns for its own staff.
"These present interesting, difficult, and potentially meritorious questions about the scope of presidential power and more," he wrote. "What has been said here of the First Amendment (and in passing of the Fifth and Sixth), however, is sufficient to declare Executive Order 14246 unlawful and enjoin its operation, eliminating the need to explore those other questions."
The victory for Jenner & Block marks a sharp contrast between how some law firms Trump has targeted with his executive orders have responded, with some opting to cut deals with the administration and others choosing to fight back. The law firms that have taken Trump to court have notched notable successes, including major firms like WilmerHale.
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Click here to read Bates' order in its entirety.