April 13, 2025 Story by: Publisher
The Legal Defense Fund filed amicus briefs on Friday, April 11, in support of law firms Jenner & Block and WilmerHale. The briefs back the firms’ lawsuits seeking to permanently block the implementation of executive orders that penalize them for representing clients whom the President considers political opponents.
Both cases are currently before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
“The Trump Administration has mounted a concerted and unprecedented attack on the legal profession,”Janai Nelson, President and Director-Counsel at LDF said. “This week alone, the Legal Defense Fund has filed amicus briefs in cases involving Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, and WilmerHale, and called on the University of Michigan Law School to ensure equal access to educational opportunities in response to a troubling email their law students received threatening harm to their future careers.”
Similar to an amicus brief LDF filed in Perkins Coie v. Department of Justice last week, the briefs draw parallels to an overlooked tactic used by Southern state governments to resist school desegregation following the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision: the attempted intimidation of civil rights lawyers and civil rights organizations.
“We know that lawyers play a critical role in holding those in power accountable and ensuring equal justice under the law,” Nelson said. “That is why we will not stand idly by while the administration or other groups attempt to undermine our legal system and attack civil rights lawyers.”
The briefs also argue that the executive orders interfere with the constitutionally protected right to counsel and unlawfully punish the firms without due process.
“The Trump Administration’s executive orders put the fundamental right to counsel at risk and threatens to close the doors of our justice system to the people who need it most, Nelson explained. “We stand in solidarity with our legal colleagues who have come under fire, and we will continue defending the rule of law with every tool at our disposal. We hope the court will put an end to this dangerous assault on the legal profession and the rule of law by permanently stopping the Trump Administration’s executive orders.”
Read the full brief submitted in WilmerHale v Executive Office of the President.
Read the full brief submitted in Jenner & Black v. Department of Justice.
Read a PDF of the LDF’s statement.
Source: Legal Defense Fund
