Today, DREDF joined a coalition of nonprofit organizations in filing an amicus brief in the D.C. Circuit opposing the Trump Administration’s Executive Orders punishing law firms for representing clients or taking positions the Administration doesn’t like.
In March and April 2025, the Administration issued Executive Orders imposing sanctions on four law firms: Perkins Coie LLP, Jenner & Block LLP, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP, and Susman Godfrey LLP. Each of the firms challenged the orders in court—and won. The Administration has now appealed those rulings to the D.C. Circuit.
Our coalition’s brief explains that the Executive Orders have already had a chilling effect on law firms’ willingness to engage in civil rights advocacy. Firms across the country—including those not directly targeted by the administration—are scaling back pro bono work and impact litigation. This is part of the reason it has been so hard to find pro bono help with some of our cases recently. The reluctance of law firms to help with civil rights work is harming disabled people and other marginalized communities who experience barriers to legal representation and justice.
The coalition brief also argues that the Executive Orders infringe on the constitutional right of individuals and organizations to retain counsel of their choice, free from government retaliation.
DREDF and its fellow nonprofits were represented by McGillivary Steere Elkin LLP, Leonard Carder LLP and Kaufman & Gropman LLP.
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