Blumenthal & Schiff Lead Bipartisan Amicus Brief in Support of Law Firms Challenging Trump Administration's Coercive Executive Orders

[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Adam Schiff (D-CA), members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today filed an amicus brief in support of Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey, which are challenging the Trump Administration’s Executive Orders targeting them for representing clients and hiring lawyers President Trump dislikes. U.S. Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chris Coons (D-DE), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Chuck Hagel, former Secretary of Defense and Republican Senator, joined Blumenthal and Schiff in filing the brief.
In the brief, the Senators warn that the Administration’s Executive Orders infringe on Senators’ First Amendment rights:“The Executive Orders stifle speech and distort public discourse. If opposing perspectives are targeted by the state, the First Amendment’s promise of a free marketplace of ideas is hollow. The voices of Senators—individually and collectively—must not be silenced or sidelined through fear or intimidation.”
The Senators also raised concerns that the Administration’s Executive Orders violate the Separation of Powers:“In our tripartite system of government, the legislative branch must be able to participate meaningfully in disputes implicating the powers of the federal government. When the Executive chills law firms from taking on politicized work, it undermines the ability of the legislature to check the Executive.”
“By interfering with the legislature’s ability to obtain independent legal assistance, the Orders strike at the heart of the constitutional framework. This Court should affirm the district court’s conclusion that such conduct is inconsistent with the structure of the federal government,”the Senators concluded.
In the lawsuit filed by the four firms, four separate district court judges issued orders enjoining enforcement of the Executive Orders, holding that the Executive Orders violated various constitutional provisions and were unenforceable. The government has appealed in each of the four cases to the D.C. Circuit. Although the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) moved to withdraw the appeals on March 2, 2026, President Trump reportedly personally intervened to order the DOJ to reverse its position and continue the appeals, which it did the following day.
As Ranking Member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Blumenthal, along with Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD),demanded answersfrom top law firms that struck deals with the White House in order to avoid President Trump’s Executive Orders targeting the firms.
Blumenthal, Raskin, and Schiff have alsorepeatedly pressed top law firms for informationregarding pro bono legal services they are providing to President Trump’s pet causes after the firms submitted to the Trump Administration’s threats of unlawful and unconstitutional Executive Orders and sham investigations. Schiff, Blumenthal, and Raskin have alsopressed a top law firm for answerson the involvement of Boris Epshteyn—President Trump’s legal fixer and a co-conspirator to overturn the 2020 presidential election—in cutting deals with the firm to provide free legal services to the Trump Administration.
The amicus brief can befound here.
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