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EFF has joined the American Civil Liberties Union and other legal advocacy organizations across the ideological spectrum in filing an amicus brief asking a federal judge to strike down President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting law firm Perkins Coie for its past work on voting rights lawsuits and its representation of the President’s prior political opponents.
As a legal organization that has fought in court to defend the rights of technology users for almost 35 years, including numerous legal challenges to federal government overreach, EFF unequivocally supports Perkins Coie’s challenge to this shocking, vindictive, and unconstitutional executive order. In punishing the law firm for its zealous advocacy on behalf of its clients, the March 6 order offends the First Amendment, the rule of law, and the legal profession broadly in numerous ways. We commend Perkins Coie and other targeted law firms that have chosen to do so (and their legal representatives) for fighting back.
“If allowed to stand, these pressure tactics will have broad and lasting impacts on Americans’ ability to retain legal counsel in important matters, to arrange their business and personal affairs as they like, and to speak their minds,” our brief says.
Lawsuits against the federal government are a vital component of the system of checks and balances that undergirds American democracy. They reflect a confidence in both the judiciary to decide such matters fairly and justly, and the executive to abide by the court’s determination. They are a backstop against autocracy and a sustaining feature of American jurisprudence since Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803).
The executive order, if enforced, would upend that system and set an appalling
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