A coalition of more than 500 law firms has signed onto an amicus brief supporting Perkins Coie LLP’s legal challenge to a presidential executive order that targets the firm for its past client representations. The brief, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, includes signatures from major firms such as Covington & Burling, WilmerHale, Arnold & Porter, and Munger Tolles & Olson, where former U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. serves as counsel to the amici.

The lawsuit, Perkins Coie LLP v. U.S. Department of Justice et al., was filed March 11 and claims the executive order is unconstitutional retaliation for the firm’s political representation and diversity-focused hiring practices. Perkins Coie alleges the order stems from its past work with Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and its legal efforts during the aftermath of the 2020 election.

“Those orders pose a grave threat to our system of constitutional governance and to the rule of law itself,” the brief argues. “The judiciary should act with resolve — now — to ensure that this abuse of executive power ceases.”

Earlier in the week, the Department of Justice moved to dismiss the case, defending the executive order as lawful and grounded in concerns over national security and employment practices. The DOJ said the order merely expresses the president’s concerns and does not unlawfully infringe on constitutional rights.

Perkins Coie initially secured a temporary restraining order from U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, who warned that allowing the executive order to stand would have “a chilling harm of blizzard proportions” across the legal industry. The order prohibited federal agencies from seeking disclosures related to the firm’s government and contractor relationships.

The amicus brief, filed by the law firm amici, stresses the systemic consequences of permitting the executive order to stand. It warns the action could deter lawyers from representing disfavored clients, undermine adversarial advocacy, and erode the rule of law. “Amici seek to provide the court with a broader perspective on the threat that the executive order...poses to the integrity of our adversarial system,” the brief states.

Also filed Friday was a separate amicus brief signed by 346 former federal and state court judges. Their filing underscores the broader implications for judicial independence and constitutional governance. “The order undermines the rule of law by threatening the independence of lawyers and litigants to petition courts to redress their grievances,” the judges wrote.

Perkins Coie is represented by a team from Williams & Connolly LLP. The government is represented by attorneys from the DOJ’s Civil Division. Former Solicitor General Paul Clement is representing WilmerHale in a related case, signaling mounting legal opposition to the administration’s executive actions against the legal industry.

“We are grateful for the support of over 500 law firms, as well as numerous other amici, in our challenge to the unconstitutional executive order and the threat it poses to the rule of law,” Perkins Coie said in a statement.

Read the full article at Law360.