Trump picks his next Big Law target
President Donald Trump continued his retaliatory spree against major law firms on Friday, signing an executive order targeting New York firm Paul, Weiss days after a judge ruled that major parts of a similar order were unconstitutional.
Trump’s new order seeks to suspend the security clearances of attorneys with the firm and limit their access to government buildings, ability to get federal jobs and receive money from federal contracts.
The order is the third targeted move against a big firm. Trump has signed similar orders aimed at Seattle-based Perkins Coie, which regularly represents Democratic entities including the Democratic National Committee, and any employee at Covington & Burling who provided free legal services to special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two criminal cases against Trump.
As POLITICO first reported, some top firms are considering publicly supporting the firms under attack by the Trump administration. But the show of solidarity has been hard to build as privately, firms worry that they could be next on the president’s hit list.
Big firms aren’t the only object of Trump’s retribution. The Friday night order also singled out lawyer Mark Pomerantz, who had previously investigated the president, calling him an “unethical attorney.”
Just hours prior to signing the order, Trump delivered a vengeful speech at the Department of Justice in which he railed against his political opponents — including Pomerantz, whom he named — calling them “really bad people” and threatening retaliation against them.
A spokesperson for Paul, Weiss told POLITICO that Pomerantz had not been affiliated with the firm since his retirement in 2012. Years after his departure from the firm, Pomerantz investigated and built a case against Trump at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, but ultimately resigned after District Attorney Alvin Bragg chose not to pursue those charges.
Immediate attempts to reach Pomerantz via an intermediary were unsuccessful.
The Paul, Weiss spokesperson also noted that a federal judge had this week deemed a similar order unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled on Wednesday that major parts of Trump’s order against Perkins Coie were likely unconstitutional, including efforts to bar attorneys from interacting with federal agencies or entering federal buildings.
In her ruling, Howell said Trump’s order appeared motivated by “retaliatory animus,” and concluded that it “runs head on into the wall of First Amendment protections.”
