
US judge blocks Trump order against law firm WilmerHale
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, said Trump's order retaliated against the firm in violation of U.S. constitutional protections for free speech and due process.
WilmerHale is the former home of Robert Mueller, the Republican-appointed special counsel who led a probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election and Trump campaign ties to Moscow. Trump has derided the investigation as a political "witch hunt."
Leon barred federal agencies from enforcing the March 27 executive order against WilmerHale, a 1,100-lawyer firm with offices in Washington, D.C. and across the country.
WilmerHale was among four law firms that sued the administration over Trump's orders seeking to bar their attorneys from federal buildings and to strip their clients of U.S. federal government contracts.
Trump accused the firms of "weaponizing" the justice system against him and his allies.
WilmerHale called Trump's order 'flagrantly' unconstitutional, arguing it violated its rights to speech, due process and equal protection under the law. The firm in its lawsuit was represented by prominent conservative lawyer Paul Clement, who was the U.S. solicitor general during the George W. Bush presidency.
In a related lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell on May 2 overturned Trump's executive order against law firm Perkins Coie, ruling that "settling personal vendettas by targeting a disliked business or individual for punitive government action is not a legitimate use of the powers of the U.S. government or an American President."
On May 23, U.S. District Judge John Bates in D.C. issued a similar ruling that struck down Trump's order against Jenner & Block. A fourth judge is weighing whether to overturn an executive order that targeted Susman Godfrey.
The U.S. Justice Department has defended Trump's orders in court, arguing in each case that Trump was lawfully exercising his presidential power and discretion.
The Justice Department can appeal Leon's order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Nine law firms, including Paul Weiss, Latham & Watkins; Skadden Arps; and Willkie Farr, reached deals with Trump that averted punitive actions, pledging a combined total of nearly $1 billion in free legal services to advance causes he supports.
Trump's targeting of firms has drawn condemnation from many within the legal industry. Some have criticized the firms that reached agreements as capitulating to presidential coercion.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
29 minutes ago
- The Independent
Ghislaine Maxwell's could dodge congressional subpoena for her testimony in Epstein investigation, lawyer says
Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell is unsure whether she will comply with a recent congressional subpoena to testify about his abuse of girls and whether others were involved, amid continued pressure for the government to disclose more about the case. 'We have to make a decision about whether she will do that or not,' her attorney David Oscar Markus told Politico. 'That's been scheduled for the week of August 11th and we haven't gotten back to them on whether we'll do that.' Maxwell could invoke the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid testifying, while Congress could offer the former British socialite immunity. Maxwell is currently in a Florida federal prison serving a 20-year sentence for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors, which she has sought to overturn in the Supreme Court. Her lawyer said, Maxwell is hoping Donald Trump pardons her. A bipartisan group on the House Oversight Committee voted Tuesday to subpoena Maxwell amid renewed interest into the Epstein scandal. Maxwell sat with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in recent days for an in-depth interview in Florida. The interview featured Maxwell answering questions about ' 100 different people,' her lawyer said. DOJ officials spoke to her as fallout from the president's handling of releasing information in the Epstein case continues to mount. Democrats have criticized Maxwell's conversations with the DOJ, arguing they are a conflict of interest given the political pressure the Trump administration is facing to disclose more about the Epstein case and Trump's personal relationship with the disgraced investor. 'Under no circumstances should anyone from Trump's DOJ be allowed to privately interview Ghislaine Maxwell,' Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote on X of the interview. 'The conflict of interest is glaring. It stinks of high corruption.' The battle over Epstein info has played out beyond just Congress, which House Speaker Mike Johnson broke early for an August recess as legislators pressured the administration to disclose the full Epstein files. Last week, President Trump filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal 's parent companies News Corp and Dow Jones, after the paper reported that Trump sent a 'bawdy' birthday letter to Epstein. The president has denied the letter is valid. The Epstein saga has created a rare wedge between Trump and members of his base and party. Trump and his allies campaigned on releasing more information about Epstein, and initially, the White House made steps toward fulfilling that promise, releasing what it called ' Phase 1 ' of the Epstein files to a group of conservative commentators and online personalities in February. However, most of it was redacted or already disclosed. Earlier this month, the Department of Justice announced there was no 'Epstein client list' despite speculation, and that no more disclosures would be made about the case, infuriating parts of the MAGA base. The president has chastised his own supporters for their intrigue over Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial, calling the scandal a Democrat-led 'scam' and 'con job.' The president, who has previously denied being mentioned in the Epstein files, was in fact told by the Justice Department he was one of numerous high-profile figures mentioned in the course of investigations into Epstein, the Wall Street Journal has reported.


Daily Mail
29 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Sears shuts California stores after revival efforts fall short
Sears' once-mighty empire is set to shrink even further as it shuts another store in California. The closure of the Burbank store in Los Angeles on August 31 will leave just six Sears stores in the US, down from more than 3,500 two decades ago. The Burbank store has struggled with low shopper numbers since opening in 2023. Soon after it opened, visitors branded it the 'saddest thing I've ever seen' with empty shelves and stained carpet. News of the closure comes as liquidation sales continue at another nearby Sears in Whittier, a city about 20 miles south-east of LA. It will close Saturday after nearly three decades. Business began crumbling in 2010, and by 2017, Searshad only only 695 locations. The vast majority have now shuttered since the company filed for bankruptcy in October 2018. Sears was on the brink of closing all its stores for good before CEO Eddie Lampert (pictured) submitted a last-minute bid valued at $4.4 billion in 2018. He upped the bid to $5.2 billion and saved 400 stores. Over the past year, Sears closed its last Washington store, shuttered its only remaining New York location. 'It's a landmark, it's something you grew up with, it's something you could trust,' Barbie Talamante, a former Sears staffer, said of the closure in Tukwila, a city ten miles south of Seattle, WA. Discount stores and big box retailers like Walmart have siphoned off Sears' customers over the last several years. Sears is not the only retailer in danger of closing for good after years of declining customers and sales. JCPenney has also been under fires. In 2020, it closed 30 percent of its stores after filing for bankruptcy. The chain had been operating 846 stores before the pandemic caused severe financial damage. It shuttered seven stores in May, and will lay off hundreds of staffers by closing a warehouse in Texas.


BBC News
29 minutes ago
- BBC News
Sunderland Nissan supplier exploring wind turbine plan
A key supplier to car maker Nissan is exploring plans for a new wind turbine to help reduce carbon (UK) Ltd, an automotive manufacturing company, wants to install a 492ft (150m) tip wind turbine at its Sunderland plant on Cherry Blossom Way, in firm, which supplies press-formed vehicle parts to the Nissan plant in Washington, said the wind turbine could generate up to application to Sunderland City Council planning officials has requested a "scoping opinion" on the plans to look at environmental impacts. Site plans show the wind turbine proposed for a parcel of land near the Unipres boundary with the Nissan plant site, which already has wind was noted the "energy generated would be distributed directly to the warehouse and would function to meet the energy needs of the facility".Applicants said the proposed development would "aim to reduce the carbon emissions from the facility" and would be "largely self-sustainable", with any "excess energy" potentially being exported back to the national grid. 'Employment benefits' Following the period of operation, estimated at 25 years, the applicant is also expected to "decommission" the wind turbine "in line with best practice industry guidance".The supporting environmental impact scoping report adds: "The proposed development would have economic and employment benefits in the form of contracting opportunities for local and regional contractors both for construction activities themselves and throughout the supply chain."A decision on the screening opinion request will be made by the council following a consultation exercise, with a decision expected in coming months. Follow BBC Sunderland on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.