By Mike Scarcella and David Thomas
(Reuters) – Law firms Perkins Coie and WilmerHale will ask federal judges in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to permanently bar President Donald Trump’s executive orders against them, calling the measures acts of retaliation that violate U.S. constitutional protections.
The court hearings will be the latest flashpoint in a legal battle pitting prominent law firms against the Republican president and his administration.
Trump’s orders against Perkins Coie and WilmerHale sought to restrict their lawyers’ access to federal buildings and to end government contracts held by their clients, citing the firms’ connections to his legal and political enemies.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell will hear Perkins Coie’s request for summary judgment at 11 a.m. Eastern, followed by a hearing in WilmerHale’s case at 2 p.m. before U.S. District Judge Richard Leon.
A summary judgment hearing focuses on the merits of a court fight, and comes after earlier legal wrangling on threshold matters.
Leon, a Republican appointee, issued a temporary order last month blocking key provisions of the order against WilmerHale, an 1,100-lawyer firm that has a large office in Washington.
Howell, a Democrat appointee, also temporarily blocked Trump’s order last month against Seattle-founded Perkins Coie, which employs more than 1,200 lawyers. Two other judges weighing lawsuits by other firms have issued similar orders.
The Justice Department has defended the executive orders as lawful presidential directives.
Nine law firms, including Paul Weiss, Skadden Arps, Latham & Watkins and Kirkland & Ellis, settled with the White House to avoid a similar order being issued against them.
The firms and several others have cumulatively pledged nearly $1 billion in free legal services and made other concessions in their deals with Trump.
Hundreds of law firms, thousands of lawyers and dozens of attorney bar groups have backed the law firms suing the administration, calling the executive orders an illegal attempt to intimidate firms from representing clients adverse to Trump’s interests.
Some lawyers at law firms that have cut deals with Trump have resigned in protest.
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by Amy Stevens and Mark Porter)
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