By Mike Scarcella and Sara Merken
(Reuters) -U.S. law firm Jenner & Block asked a judge on Monday to permanently bar Republican U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order punishing the firm for its affiliation with a prosecutor who investigated ties between his 2016 campaign and Russia.
A lawyer for the firm told U.S. District Judge John Bates at a hearing in Washington that the danger of Trump’s pressure campaign against law firms had only grown since Jenner was targeted in the March order.
“We’ve seen more executive orders, and we’ve seen nine prominent, powerful law firms bend to the threat of the executive order, reaching unknown accommodations with the administration,” attorney Michael Attanasio said.
Trump’s order “reeks of unconstitutionality,” he said.
Bates heard arguments for nearly two hours but did not issue a ruling. The judge, a Republican appointee, expressed concerns about the scope of Trump’s order and the justifications that the administration has made for it.
“Everything in this executive order is intended to provide a burden on Jenner,” Bates said during an exchange with Richard Lawson, a Justice Department lawyer defending the order.
Lawson asserted Trump’s order was allowed under the broad reach of presidential authority. The president has argued that Jenner and other firms “weaponized” the legal system against him and his allies.
Trump’s order against Chicago-founded Jenner cited its past employment of Andrew Weissmann, a top federal prosecutor in U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump has described the Russia investigation as a “hoax” and “witch hunt.”
The order also attacked Jenner’s work providing free legal services on matters including transgender rights and protections for immigrants.
The executive order sought to restrict Jenner’s lawyers from accessing federal buildings and officials and to end government contracts held by its clients.
Jenner in its lawsuit called the order a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protections against government abridgment of speech and Fifth Amendment guarantee of due process, a requirement for the government to use a fair legal process.
Three other firms — Perkins Coie, WilmerHale and Susman Godfrey — have sued the administration to permanently block the executive orders he issued against them.
Judges in all four lawsuits against the administration issued temporary rulings that blocked key provisions of the White House orders.
Nine law firms, including Jenner rivals Paul Weiss, Milbank, Simpson Thacher and Skadden Arps, have pledged nearly $1 billion in free legal services to causes the White House supports and made other concessions to avoid being targeted by Trump.
Jenner is one of more than a dozen law firms that are currently suing the Trump administration over its efforts to curb transgender rights and to freeze federal spending at many agencies.
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella in Washington and Sara Merken in New York; Editing by David Bario and Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Editing by William Maclean)
