Extreme Commanders

Judge blocks key provisions of Trump’s bid to punish Democratic-linked law firm

President Donald Trump’s retaliation against a prominent Democratic-linked law firm is likely unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell blocked the Trump administration from enforcing central provisions of an executive order that seeks to punish the law firm, Perkins Coie, by barring its attorneys from interacting with federal agencies or even entering federal buildings.

Howell said the “retaliatory animus” of Trump’s order is “clear on its face” and appears to violate constitutional restrictions on “viewpoint discrimination.” The executive order, which Trump issued last week, “runs head on into the wall of First Amendment protections,” the judge concluded.

Perkins Coie, which is based in Seattle, has often represented Democratic politicians and causes, including Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Trump has long targeted the firm as a political and legal adversary for its role in commissioning the anti-Trump dossier compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele in 2016. That dossier, whose salacious allegations against Trump were never confirmed by federal investigators, helped fuel the long-running probe of his 2016 campaign’s interactions with Russia.

The executive order, if allowed to take effect, would hamstring the firm’s ability to represent clients who have business with the federal government. The firm claims that Trump’s directive has already led clients to abandon the firm and is likely to prompt federal officials to cancel or deny meetings on a wide array of pending matters.

Howell noted that the order would harm not only the firm’s 1,200 lawyers — most of whom had nothing to do with the Russia probe — but its 2,500 non-lawyer employees, from IT staff to secretaries.

The judge said Trump’s order was also flawed because it was issued without any notice to the firm or due process to challenge his determination.

“This may be amusing in ‘Alice in Wonderland’ where the Queen of Hearts yells, ‘Off with their heads!’ at annoying subjects … and announces a sentence before a verdict,” Howell said, “but this cannot be the reality we are living under.”

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CEOs say they are losing faith in Trump: ‘I don’t trust that what’s said today will be true tomorrow’

How quickly CEO optimism has turned. I’m just back from the Yale CEO Caucus in Washington, where 100 CEOs gathered with 60 big-city mayors, policymakers, and journalists like me to talk off the record about “navigating Trump 2.0.” Gone is the optimistic dream of economic growth spurred by Trump’s pro-business mindset around taxes and regulation. In its place is the grave uncertainty of not knowing what this administration will do next. As the host, Yale professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, noted afterward, the consensus was one of bewilderment, condemnation and a feeling that “Trump’s policies were bad for the U.S. economy.”

Though the attendees identified as 60% Republican to 40% Democrat, the mood was dour. In a flash poll at the summit, 80% of CEOs said they find themselves “apologizing to our international partners for Trump’s capriciousness.” Eighty-five percent oppose his approach to tariffs and think they’re backfiring. Almost all—92%—are now concerned about recession. Indeed, Goldman Sachs’ chief economist just downgraded the entire U.S. economy.

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