Judge says Trump penalties on law firm send 'chills down my spine'

Washington Post

12-03-2025

A D.C. federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to at least temporarily halt the unprecedented penalties it levied on a powerful law firm that has represented clients whom President Donald Trump considers his political enemies.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled from the bench after the two-hour hearing, saying Trump exerted 'extraordinary power' and that Perkins Coie proved it had suffered immediate damages from the penalties.
The judge granted the firm a temporary restraining order, which would prevent some of the punishments from going into effect, and said she will hold an additional hearing before issuing a full ruling on the matter.
Last week, Trump signed an executive order hitting Perkins Coie with a sweeping directive that bans the federal government from hiring the firm, or from using contractors who work with it, except in limited circumstances. The order also bars Perkins Coie employees from entering federal buildings and suspends their security clearances.
Howell warned that the order could damage the integrity of the entire legal profession, intimidating lawyers from taking up cases that the president views as going against his interests.
'I have enormous respect for Williams & Connolly,' Howell said, referring to the law firm representing Perkins Coie in the case, 'and enormous respect for them taking this case when not every law firm would.'
The judge said Trump's executive order appeared to violate the First Amendment rights of Perkins Coie and noted that the firm was not granted any due process. She said the Trump administration wrote the order in such a broad manner that it was hard to determine any goal beyond retaliation.
'It sends little chills down my spine,' Howell said, describing the executive order as the president punishing a company he believes is not acting in the president's interest. 'Why shouldn't we be chilled by this?'
The restraining order does not apply to a portion of Trump's executive order that suspended Perkins Coie's security clearances and another dealing with the firm's diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The law firm has challenged those provisions in its lawsuit but did not include them in its request for a temporary restraining order.
Perkins Coie has lost clients each day since the executive order, Dane Butswinkas, the Williams & Connolly attorney representing Perkins Coie, told Howell. He said the firm's biggest 15 clients, accounting for about 25 percent of its business, all hold government contracts.
'This executive order takes a wrecking ball to the rule of law,' Butswinkas said. 'The effects have been immediate … It will spell the end of the law firm.'
In a highly unusual move, Attorney General Pam Bondi's chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, argued on behalf of the government at the hearing. He said that Trump believes Perkin Coie cannot be trusted with the nation's secrets and has the right to yank access to government contracts from a private individual or company.
'This is clear Article II executive authority,' Mizelle said, referring to the constitutional provision that establishes the powers of the executive branch.
Perkins Coie represented Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 presidential race. It also contracted with the research firm that produced the now-discredited opposition dossier that alleged extensive contacts between Trump and Russia during the campaign. The two main attorneys involved in that work — Marc E. Elias and Michael Sussmann — are no longer employed by Perkins Coie.
The discredited document, known as the Steele dossier, was full of unverified allegations assembled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.
In recent weeks, Trump also ordered the suspension of security clearances of some attorneys at the law firm Covington & Burling, which has represented former special counsel Jack Smith pro bono. From late 2022 until after the November presidential election, Smith led the federal investigations of Trump for allegedly mishandling classified materials and trying to block the 2020 election results.