A United States district judge has struck down an executive order from President Donald Trump that targeted the law firm Perkins Coie over its representation of his Democratic election rival Hillary Clinton.On Friday in Washington, DC, Judge Beryl A Howell issued a five-page order declaring the executive order unconstitutional.
“Executive Order 14230 is unlawful, null and void in its entirety and therefore should be disregarded,” Howell wrote in the order.
The ruling is the first to permanently nullify one of the executive orders Trump has issued against a law firm. His administration is expected to appeal.
As part of Judge Howell’s order, the Trump administration must cease any investigations of Perkins Coie, restore any rescinded services and allow the law firm to resume its “ordinary course of business” with the government.
In her full 102-page ruling, Judge Howell spelled out her rationale, declaring Trump’s executive order represented “an unprecedented attack” on the country’s “foundational principles”. Advertisement
“No American President has ever before issued executive orders like the one at issue in this lawsuit,” she said in her opening lines. “In purpose and effect, this action draws from a playbook as old as Shakespeare, who penned the phrase: ‘The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.’”
Trump’s executive order, she added, offers a new twist on that Shakespearean phrase: “Let’s kill th …
