March 3 (UPI) — After asking to drop its appeal on a day earlier, the Department of Justice reversed course Tuesday saying it will continue to defend President Donald Trump’s executive orders against four law firms.
On Monday, the Justice Department filed a motion requesting to abandon its battle against four law firms that previously won their cases against the administration. The Justice Department has sought to suspend their security clearances, revoke federal their contracts and restrict their access to federal buildings for being associated with people and supporting interests that do not align with the president or his policies.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department formally asked to withdraw its request to abandon the appeal. It sent an email to the four firms apologizing for the short notice and told them it would withdraw its voluntary dismissal, The New York Times reported. It wasn’t clear why the administration backtracked.
Some law firms conceded to Trump early on, but four firms have continued to fight the executive orders. They are Perkins Coie, WilmerHale, Susman Godfrey and Jenner & Block.
Shira A. Scheindlin, a former federal district judge in Manhattan, told The Times Tuesday morning that letting go of the appeals might mean losing the deals it had with the other firms.
She said she believes the administration would lose at the appeals court level but might have a faint hope at the Supreme Court.
“How embarrassing to reverse yourself after all the bad press,” Scheindlin said.
Will Creeley, legal director of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, told NBC News on 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,” Creely said. “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.”
The federal judges have tended to side with the law firms in court.
In May, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell wrote a 102-page decision calling the executive order against Perkins Coie — the firm that represented Hillary Clinton in 2016 — “Shakespearean.”
“The importance of independent lawyers to ensuring the American judicial system’s fair and impartial administration of justice has been recognized in this country since its founding era,” she said.
“Using the powers of the federal government to target lawyers for their representation of clients and avowed progressive employment policies in an overt attempt to suppress and punish certain viewpoints, however, is contrary to the Constitution,” Howell wrote.
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