The American Bar Association filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in April 2026, urging the court to affirm lower court rulings striking down Trump executive orders that imposed severe sanctions on four law firms — Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey — for representing clients and causes disfavored by the administration. The ABA brief, joined by twenty-seven bar and lawyer associations, argues that the orders violate attorneys’ First Amendment rights to free speech and association and impermissibly retaliate against lawyers for lawful professional activity. Four separate federal district judges had already found the orders unconstitutional. The episode represents a direct, sustained effort by the executive branch to coerce the legal profession into self-censorship by threatening the economic survival of firms that challenge government action.

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