The Justice Department reversed course on Tuesday, telling an appeals court it wanted to continue its battle over executive orders aimed at law firms targeted by President Donald Trump.
Justice Department officials said Monday night they planned to drop their appeal, conceding to unanimous rulings from federal judges that found the orders violated the Constitution.
The targeted firms included Perkins Coie, WilmerHale, Susman Godfrey and Jenner & Block. They had fought back against executive orders by Trump that took aim at their security clearances, government contracts and access to government buildings due to their clientele and hiring.
But the Justice Department on Tuesday filed a “motion to withdraw a motion to voluntarily dismiss appeals” in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The New York Times first reported the planned reversal.
The Justice Department argued the court should grant the motion withdraw its concession, saying it was the “prerogative of Defendant-Appellants to pursue this appeal” and that there “is no prejudice to Plaintiff-Appellees in the Court granting this motion.”
The law firms opposed the Justice Department’s attempted reversal.
“Hours after asking the court to dismiss its appeal, the Department of Justice has abruptly reversed course and moved to continue its defense of the unconstitutional executive orders,” Perkins Coie said in a statement. “It offered no explanation to either the parties or the court for its reversal. We remain committed to defending our firm, our people, and our clients.”
Susman Godfrey, for its part, said in a statement that it would “defend itself and the rule of law—without equivocation.”
Will Creeley, legal director of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said Tuesday that Trump’s “indefensible vendetta was a shocking abuse of power the day the executive orders were announced.”
“It was unconstitutional yesterday. It’s unconstitutional today. And it’ll still be unconstitutional tomorrow. Today’s reversal is an embarrassment. Like we said yesterday: This is the president going after his political opponents, a plain and simple violation of our nation’s commitment to justice and individual rights,” he said.
Federal judges repeatedly sided with the firms. In a ruling in May, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell called the executive order against Perkins Coie “an unprecedented attack” on the U.S. judicial system.
The firms, which stood up to the administration at a time when many other major law firms caved, welcomed the administration’s capitulation Monday, with Susman Godfrey calling it “a fitting end to its plainly unconstitutional attack on Susman Godfrey and the rule of law.”
WilmerHale and Jenner & Block did not immediately comment on the administration’s reversal.
