type: timeline_event
On March 2-3, 2026, the Department of Justice executed a dramatic 24-hour reversal on its litigation against four law firms targeted by Trump executive orders. DOJ attorneys first filed to voluntarily withdraw consolidated cases against Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, Perkins Coie, and Susman Godfrey on Monday evening — a move interpreted by observers as a potential signal that the administration was retreating from the legally problematic orders, all of which had been blocked by federal judges.
Within 24 hours, DOJ reversed course entirely and announced it would not only maintain but aggressively appeal all four blocked executive orders, filing notices of intent to appeal to the respective circuit courts. The reversal was attributed to internal pressure from administration hardliners who viewed the brief withdrawal as a capitulation to judicial opposition.
The episode exposed internal tensions within the DOJ over how to handle what were widely regarded as constitutionally indefensible orders. The targeted firms had been selected for punishment because of their political associations: representing entities that had opposed Trump politically, hiring attorneys connected to the Mueller investigation, or litigating cases against Trump-aligned interests. Multiple federal judges had found the executive orders to be unconstitutional acts of political retaliation — a characterization that even some DOJ career attorneys reportedly shared.
The public whiplash of filing to drop cases and then immediately re-filing to restore them drew sharp criticism from legal scholars and bar associations, who called the episode emblematic of a Justice Department operating more like a political instrument than an independent law enforcement agency.