Memorandum of Law in Support of Plaintiff Perkins Coie’s Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order

Key Excerpts

• Perkins Coie lawyers . . . practice at the highest levels of the profession in federal and state courts across the country, before more than 90 federal agencies, and in varied transactional settings. They serve their communities as Sunday school teachers, Scout leaders, youth sports coaches, military reservists, and board members of civic organizations.
• Lawyers protect and promote our cherished freedoms, including the rights to free speech and to petition the government, and safeguard the rule of law that underpins our democratic system.
• Critical to this role is lawyers’ time-honored duty to advocate zealously for their clients, no matter how controversial. Zealous advocacy serves as a bulwark against government abuses that erode the rule of law.
• In keeping with the highest tradition of the legal profession, Perkins Coie has zealously advocated for its clients in matters large and small since the Firm’s founding more than a century ago. The President’s Executive Order attacks Perkins Coie and its clients for that advocacy. The Firm already has suffered significant harm, and that harm is increasing every day.
• Although the Executive Order is expressly political, its consequences are not. The Order already has produced several harmful effects for Perkins Coie and its clients. Government officials already have invoked the Order to refuse to meet with Perkins Coie attorneys—including on matters having nothing to do with presidential politics or government contracting. Agencies already have asked Perkins Coie clients to disclose whether they have a relationship with the Firm. Some clients already have chosen to move work elsewhere. And other clients have expressed grave concern about the consequences of continuing to retain Perkins Coie if this illegal Order is not enjoined.