A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked several portions of President Donald Trump's executive order punishing Susman Godfrey, the law firm that represented the elections equipment company Dominion Voting Systems in their defamation lawsuit against Fox News.
Judge Loren AliKhan slammed the Trump administration's actions from the bench, per MSNBC legal commentator Adam Klasfeld, saying, "Frankly, I think the Framers of our Constitution would see this as a shocking abuse of power."
She noted that a number of other law firms had struck "deals" with the Trump administration to avoid being targeted by similar executive orders, which, she said, was "coercion, plain and simple."
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AliKhan blocked all three provisions of the executive order that Susman Godfrey challenged: Section 1, which attacked the firm's diversity, equity, and inclusion policies; Section 3, which ordered the termination of all federal government contracts with the firm; and Section 5, which barred Susman Godfrey personnel from accessing federal buildings.
Trump has issued a number of other executive orders with identical provisions targeting various law firms that have represented clients or cases against himself or his allies or previously employed people who have done so.
The "deals" struck with several law firms to prevent this punishment included agreeing to terminate DEI policies, commit to accepting pro-Trump clients in the future, and earmark hundreds of millions of dollars for pro bono work in specific areas the Trump administration approves of, such as fighting antisemitism and assisting veterans. It's part of a series of attacks Trump has levied at institutions to force compliance with his administration, including threats to terminate funding to progressive research universities and pushing for settlements of frivolous lawsuits against large broadcasting companies.
The law firm deals were largely brokered by Boris Epshteyn, a controversial lawyer and former right-wing analyst for Sinclair Broadcast Group who is notorious for following Trump around with positive news printouts to make him feel better.
