On May 14, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral arguments in the consolidated challenges brought by Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey against executive orders that stripped their attorneys of security clearances, barred them from federal buildings, and directed reviews of their clients’ government contracts. The panel pressed administration counsel on whether singling out firms for representing disfavored clients or hiring disfavored lawyers can be reconciled with the First Amendment. Former Solicitor General Paul Clement argued for the firms that the orders “strike at the heart of the First Amendment and the ability of lawyers to zealously represent” their clients. The case is one of the highest-stakes pending tests of whether the federal government can use executive power to retaliate against private legal practice.