Addressing Risks from Jenner & Block
TLDR
This executive order against Jenner & Block escalates the administration’s campaign against perceived adversarial law firms, following Paul Weiss’s earlier capitulation. Paul Weiss agreed to $40M in pro bono services aligned with Trump’s agenda while abandoning diversity initiatives, emboldening further targeting. The Jenner order amplifies previous tactics: suspending security clearances, terminating government contracts, restricting personnel, and using partisan justifications. It adds novel elements like targeting specific lawyers and conflating DEI with discrimination. Critics argue these orders weaponize federal authority to stifle dissent, violating First Amendment protections. Paul Weiss’s failure to challenge legally created a precedent for pressuring other firms.
The executive order targeting Jenner & Block LLP represents a direct escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign against law firms perceived as adversarial, following the precedent set by Paul Weiss’s capitulation. Here’s how the Paul Weiss deal enabled this abuse of power and its implications:
Paul Weiss’s agreement to provide $40 million in pro bono services aligned with Trump’s agenda—while abandoning diversity initiatives—signaled that capitulation, not legal defense, could resolve executive overreach. This surrender demonstrated that firms facing existential threats (e.g., revoked security clearances, terminated contracts) might prioritize survival over constitutional principles; and, contrasted sharply with Perkins Coie’s successful court challenge to a similar order, which blocked enforcement. By folding, Paul Weiss emboldened further targeting of firms like Jenner & Block.
The new executive order replicates and amplifies the Paul Weiss playbook:
| Mechanism | Paul Weiss Precedent | Jenner & Block Escalation |
|---|---|---|
| Security Clearances | Suspended pending “review” | Explicit suspension of clearances (Sec. 2(a)) |
| Contract Termination | Threatened government contracts | Mandates disclosure/termination (Sec. 3(a)(i)) |
| Personnel Restrictions | Implied through DEI policy abandonment | Bans hiring Jenner employees (Sec. 5(b)) |
| Partisan Justifications | Criticized pro bono work as “partisan” | Accuses Jenner of “partisan lawfare” (Sec. 1) |
The Jenner order adds novel elements, such as singling out individual lawyers (e.g., Andrew Weissmann) and conflating DEI policies with illegal discrimination (Sec. 4).
Firms may avoid representing clients opposed by the administration to avoid retaliation. And, by conditioning government cooperation on ideological compliance, the executive branch effectively strong-arms firms into aligning with its agenda.
Paul Weiss’s deal validated Trump’s strategy, encouraging repeated use of executive power to punish perceived enemies. As one attorney noted, this surrender “will embolden the administration to undertake similar actions against additional firms”.
Critics argue these orders weaponize federal authority to stifle dissent, violating First Amendment protections and due process. Furthermore, mandating pro bono work for government initiatives creates conflicts of interest, as firms may be barred from representing clients against the administration.
Paul Weiss’s failure to mount a legal challenge created a roadmap for the administration to pressure other firms. The Jenner & Block order exemplifies how unchecked executive power, once normalized, expands to target broader dissent—a pattern historically associated with authoritarian consolidation.
REFERENCES
- 2025-03-25: Trump targets Jenner & Block in latest executive order aimed at law firms | Reuters — President Trump signed an executive order targeting law firm Jenner & Block, restricting their access to government work and suspending security clearances for their lawyers. The order cites the firm’s past employment of prosecutor Andrew Weissmann and its involvement in cases challenging Trump’s policies on transgender rights and asylum.
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1.
Background.
My Administration is committed to addressing the significant risks associated with law firms, particularly so-called “Big Law” firms, that engage in conduct detrimental to critical American interests. Many firms take actions that threaten public safety and national security, limit constitutional freedoms, degrade the quality of American elections, or undermine bedrock American principles. Moreover, law firms regularly conduct this harmful activity through their powerful pro bono practices, earmarking hundreds of millions of their clients’ dollars for destructive causes, that often directly or indirectly harm their own clients. Lawyers and law firms that engage in such egregious conduct should not have access to our Nation’s secrets, nor should such conduct be subsidized by Federal taxpayer funds or contracts.
Jenner & Block LLP (Jenner) is yet another law firm that has abandoned the profession’s highest ideals, condoned partisan “lawfare,” and abused its pro bono practice to engage in activities that undermine justice and the interests of the United States. For example, Jenner engages in obvious partisan representations to achieve political ends, supports attacks against women and children based on a refusal to accept the biological reality of sex, and backs the obstruction of efforts to prevent illegal aliens from committing horrific crimes and trafficking deadly drugs within our borders. Moreover, Jenner discriminates against its employees based on race and other categories prohibited by civil rights laws, including through the use of race-based “targets.”
In addition, Jenner was “thrilled” to re-hire the unethical Andrew Weissmann after his time engaging in partisan prosecution as part of Robert Mueller’s entirely unjustified investigation. Andrew Weissmann’s career has been rooted in weaponized government and abuse of power, including devastating tens of thousands of American families who worked for the now defunct Arthur Andersen LLP, only to have his unlawfully aggressive prosecution overturned by the Supreme Court. The numerous reports of Weissmann’s dishonesty, including pursuit of nonexistent crimes, bribery to foreign nationals, and overt demand that the Federal Government pursue a political agenda against me, is a concerning indictment of Jenner’s values and priorities.
Sec. 2.
Security Clearance Review.
(a) The Attorney General, the Director of National Intelligence, and all other relevant heads of executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall immediately take steps consistent with applicable law to suspend any active security clearances held by individuals at Jenner pending a review of whether such clearances are consistent with the national interest.
(b) The Office of Management and Budget shall identify all Government goods, property, material, and services, including Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities, provided for the benefit of Jenner. The heads of agencies providing such material or services shall, to the extent permitted by law, expeditiously cease such provision.
Sec. 3.
Contracting.
(a) To prevent the transfer of taxpayer dollars to Federal contractors whose earnings subsidize, among other things, activities that are not aligned with American interests, including racial discrimination, Government contracting agencies shall, to the extent permissible by law, require Government contractors to disclose any business they do with Jenner and whether that business is related to the subject of the Government contract.
(b) The heads of agencies shall review all contracts with Jenner or with entities that disclose doing business with Jenner under subsection (a) of this section. To the extent permitted by law, the heads of agencies shall:
(i) take appropriate steps to terminate any contract, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, including the Federal Acquisition Regulation, for which Jenner has been hired to perform any service; and
(ii) otherwise align their agency funding decisions with the interests of the citizens of the United States; with the goals and priorities of my Administration as expressed in executive actions, especially Executive Order 14147 of January 20, 2025 (Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government); and as heads of agencies deem appropriate. Within 30 days of the date of this order, agencies shall submit to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget an assessment of contracts with Jenner or with entities that do business with Jenner effective as of the date of this order and any actions taken with respect to those contracts in accordance with this order.
Sec. 4.
Racial Discrimination.
Nothing in this order shall be construed to limit the action authorized by section 4 of Executive Order 14230of March 6, 2025 (Addressing Risks from Perkins Coie LLP).
Sec. 5.
Personnel.
(a) The heads of agencies shall, to the extent permitted by law, provide guidance limiting official access from Federal Government buildings to employees of Jenner when such access would threaten the national security of or otherwise be inconsistent with the interests of the United States. In addition, the heads of agencies shall provide guidance limiting Government employees acting in their official capacity from engaging with Jenner employees, including but not limited to Andrew Weissmann, to ensure consistency with the national security and other interests of the United States.
(b) Agency officials shall, to the extent permitted by law, refrain from hiring employees of Jenner, including but not limited to Andrew Weissmann, absent a waiver from the head of the agency, made in consultation with the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, that such hire will not threaten the national security of the United States.
Sec. 6.
General Provisions.
(a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
© This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
THE WHITE HOUSE, March 25, 2025.