{"id":1667318,"date":"2026-03-03T20:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T01:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1667318"},"modified":"2026-03-03T20:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T01:05:00","slug":"in-stunning-flip-flop-doj-suddenly-revives-bid-to-sanction-law-firms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/in-stunning-flip-flop-doj-suddenly-revives-bid-to-sanction-law-firms\/1667318\/","title":{"rendered":"In Stunning Flip-Flop, DOJ Suddenly Revives Bid To Sanction Law Firms"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Stunning Flip-Flop, DOJ Suddenly Revives Bid To Sanction Law Firms<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Update (1400ET):<\/strong><\/em> In a stunning flip-flop, just 24 hours after The Justice Department\u00a0said it was dropping its appeal of four trial-court rulings that struck down Trump\u2019s sanctions against law firms Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, Perkins Coie and Susman Godfrey, the DoJ\u00a0told a court Tuesday that it plans to press forward with the defense of President Trump\u2019s executive orders sanctioning law firms<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Wall Street Journal reports<\/a> that the department said in a court filing that the federal appeals court in Washington hadn\u2019t yet ruled on its request the previous day to dismiss the cases – and that it was the administration\u2019s prerogative to instead pursue them further.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Judges across the ideological spectrum had ruled that the president\u2019s attempts to punish law firms amounted to unconstitutional retaliation.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

s Aldgra Fredly reported earlier for The Epoch Times,<\/em><\/a>\u00a0the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion on March 2 seeking to drop its appeals of lower court decisions that struck down President Donald Trump\u2019s executive orders sanctioning four law firms.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

In its motion<\/a> to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the DOJ said it decided to \u201cvoluntarily dismiss\u201d its appeals of rulings that sided with law firms Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, Susman Godfrey, and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr (WilmerHale).<\/strong><\/p>\n

The DOJ did not provide any explanation for the decision in its filing.<\/p>\n

Trump issued the orders in March 2025. They stated that the firms abused their pro bono practice \u201cto engage in activities that undermine justice and the interests of the United States,\u201d citing alleged \u201cpartisan representations\u201d and other factors.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The orders directed all executive departments and agencies to suspend security clearances of individuals at the law firms while those clearances were being reviewed to see whether they aligned with the national interest, terminate any contracts with the law firms, and limit their employees\u2019 access to government buildings.<\/p>\n

The four law firms filed lawsuits challenging Trump\u2019s orders, arguing that the orders were unconstitutional and violated their First Amendment rights. <\/strong>Federal judges handling the cases subsequently ruled in favor of the firms and struck down the orders last year.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration reached deals with nine other law firms targeted by Trump\u2019s orders, which agreed to provide pro bono legal services to the White House and to uphold<\/a> \u201cfairness in the justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to the DOJ\u2019s latest filing, Jenner & Block said the decision \u201cmakes permanent the rulings\u201d of four federal judges who found the president\u2019s executive orders were unconstitutional.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOur partnership is proud to have stood firm on behalf of its clients, and we look forward to continuing to serve them\u2014guided by these bedrock values\u2014for many decades to come,\u201d the firm said in a March 2 statement.<\/p>\n

Susman Godfrey said the filing indicates the government is no longer trying to defend what the firm deemed an \u201cindefensible executive order\u201d by Trump.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government has capitulated, which is a fitting end to its plainly unconstitutional attack on Susman Godfrey and the rule of law,\u201d Susman Godfrey said in a statement. \u201cAnd we won.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perkins Coie said the DOJ\u2019s dismissal of its appeal \u201cmeans the district court\u2019s decision stands as a final order, protecting core constitutional freedoms such as free speech, due process, and the right to select counsel without fear of retribution.\u201d<\/p>\n

WilmerHale said in a statement that it was pleased with the government\u2019s decision.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAs we said from the outset, our challenge to the unlawful Executive Order was about \u2060defending our clients\u2019 constitutional right to retain the counsel of their choosing and defending the rule of law,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nTue, 03\/03\/2026 – 15:05<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/doj-drops-bid-revive-executive-orders-targeting-law-firms<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Stunning Flip-Flop, DOJ Suddenly Revives Bid To Sanction Law Firms Update (1400ET): In a stunning flip-flop, just 24 hours after The Justice Department\u00a0said it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1667319,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1667318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1667318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1667318"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1667318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1667342,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1667318\/revisions\/1667342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1667319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1667318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1667318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1667318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}