type: timeline_event
On March 19, 2026, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a DOJ motion to proceed with appeals challenging district court rulings that had struck down executive orders targeting major law firms. The decision concluded a chaotic procedural sequence in which DOJ had first dismissed its own appeals, then reversed course and asked the court to undo the dismissals within 24 hours — a maneuver the targeted firms called an "unexplained about-face."
The law firms affected — Perkins Coie, WilmerHale, Jenner & Block, and Susman Godfrey — had each been targeted by Trump executive orders that sought to revoke security clearances, bar government contracts, and impose other punitive measures against firms that had represented clients in matters adverse to Trump's interests. District courts had struck down the orders as unconstitutional, finding that they violated the First Amendment right to legal representation and constituted impermissible retaliation.
The firms' lawyers expressed alarm at the procedural chaos. DOJ's decision to dismiss and then immediately seek to revive the appeals suggested internal turmoil over litigation strategy, or potentially political pressure to continue pursuing the cases despite their legal weaknesses. The court set March 27 as the deadline for the firms to file response briefs, compressing the timeline in a manner that added to the burden on targeted firms already managing the operational fallout of the executive orders.
Legal observers noted that the appeals represented one of the most direct attacks on the independence of the legal profession in American history. By targeting firms for their representation of clients who opposed Trump, the executive orders struck at the foundational principle that lawyers should be free to represent any client without fear of government retribution. The D.C. Circuit's decision to allow the appeals to proceed ensured that the constitutional questions would receive appellate review.