The firm argued that the POTUS' March 6 executive order was illegal retaliation
US firm Perkins Coie has hit back against US President Donald Trump in a lawsuit alleging the unlawfulness of an executive order issued on March 6, reported Reuters.
The order rescinded the security clearances of Perkins Coie staff and cut off the firm’s government contracts. It also aimed to restrict Perkins Coie lawyers’ access to federal buildings and officials.
Perkins Coie’s suit, filed yesterday in Washington, D.C. federal court, accused the Trump administration of illegal retaliation against the firm because of its diversity and inclusion policies and its previous work for former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who opposed Trump during his first campaign in 2016.
Perkins Coie sought to prevent the order from being implemented. It also asked for the order to be declared unlawful.
“Perkins Coie’s ability to represent the interests of its clients — and its ability to operate as a legal-services business at all — are under direct and imminent threat [due to the order],” the firm said in a snippet of the lawsuit published by Reuters.
In the order, Trump told federal agencies to review the government’s contracts with Perkins Coie and to suspend in the interim security clearances used by the firm’s lawyers to access and handle sensitive information. The order also instructed agencies to consider terminating contractual work involving Perkins Coie clients, and to restrict the access of the firm’s lawyers to government premises.
Perkins Coie claimed that the order had caused at least seven clients to stop working with the firm – including a major government contractor.
According to Reuters, a White House spokesperson declined to provide comment.
Last month, Trump targeted law firm Covington & Burling, which is acting for special counsel Jack Smith. His February 25 order against the firm called for the revocation of security clearances for Smith’s lawyers and the limitation of the firm’s work with the government.
