DOJ Tries to Resurrect the Unconstitutional Executive Orders that Attacked the Independence of the Practice of Law
- Robert Sanger
- Jul 3
- 2 min read
On April 4, 2025, Munger Tolles & Olsen filed an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit brought on behalf of the law firm Perkins Coie. The lawsuit challenged the retaliatory attack by executive order on Perkins Coie for having the audacity to displease the executive by representing Hillary Clinton. In a small gesture of solidarity, Sanger Hanley signed on to the brief which eventually gained 504 signatories. Sanger Hanley also joined amicus briefs in two other cases relating to the similar attacks on Jenner & Block and Wilmer Hale.
On May 2, 2025, United States District Court Judge Beryl Howell ruled in the Perkins Coie case. She found the executive order unconstitutional as an “unprecedented attack” on the American judicial system and, further found that, if allowed to stand, it would have a chilling effect on the entire legal profession. The other two lawsuits in the District Court were before two other judges but all three were successful. That should have been it.
However, on Monday, June 30, 2025, in what is no longer a shocking display of partisan loyalty to the personal whims of the executive, the once proud United States Department of Justice filed a Notice of Appeal in an effort to save the blatantly unconstitutional executive order against Perkins Coie and to punish any lawyer or law firm that had dared to, or may dare to, displease the president.
So we are on to the Circuit Court. A prediction: The Circuit panel (and the Circuit en banc, if it gets there) will also make the obvious finding that the executive orders are unconstitutional. The DOJ then will petition the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court cannot (no matter what the political configuration) reverse the lower courts at the risk of completely collapsing the third branch of government. The question then will be whether the Supreme Court grants certiorari and confronts this head on or whether it uses its shadow docket to simply deny cert and let the matter die.
It is hard to continue to hold out hope for judicial independence but it is all we have...