The law firm Jenner & Block sued the Trump administration on Friday, seeking to stop an executive order leveled against the firm this week that could cripple its ability to represent clients.
The suit is the second time that a law firm targeted by President Trump has decided to fight back in court and will open a new front in the month-old battle Mr. Trump has waged on law firms.
“Today, Jenner & Block filed a lawsuit to stop an unconstitutional executive order that has already been declared unlawful by a federal court. We expect to prevail quickly,” the law firm said in a statement.
The firm created a website — Jenner Stands Firm — to publicize its filings.
Last week, Mr. Trump and the law firm Paul Weiss announced an agreement in which Mr. Trump rescinded his executive order against the firm in exchange for it committing to represent clients regardless of their political leanings and pledging $40 million in pro bono legal services to issues Mr. Trump has championed.
That deal was widely criticized, as the firm — which is stocked with Democrats who have opposed Mr. Trump — was seen as bending to Mr. Trump to protect its bottom line. Another big law firm, Skadden Arps, is in talks with the White House to head off a potential executive order against it.
Mr. Trump has been going after big law firms that he contends have “weaponized” the legal system. He is initially targeting law firms that hired lawyers who were once involved in the many investigations of actions during his first term as president and his business dealings.
The suit by Jenner & Block was filed in federal court in Washington and the firm is asking a judge to step in immediately and stop the executive order. The firm is being represented by Cooley, another law firm. The lawsuit named numerous government agencies and officials as defendants.
Perkins Coie, one of the first law firms targeted by Mr. Trump, filed a suit against Mr. Trump earlier this month. A federal judge quickly stepped in and temporarily halted Mr. Trump’s order, saying that it was likely illegal and adding: “It sends little chills down my spine.”
Jenner & Block is seeking to have that same judge — Beryl Howell — handle its suit.
A White House representative said Mr. Trump had targeted Jenner & Block because it once employed Andrew Weissmann, a longtime federal prosecutor who worked under Robert S. Mueller III, who as a special counsel investigated ties between Mr. Trump’s campaign and Russia. Mr. Weissmann has a reputation as an aggressive investigator.
In recent years, he has emerged as a public critic of Mr. Trump, appearing frequently on MSNBC to provide legal analysis about the range of indictments Mr. Trump faced for his conduct.
The executive order also accused the firm of engaging “in obvious partisan representations to achieve political ends” and claimed the firm “discriminates against its employees based on race and other categories prohibited by civil rights laws, including through the use of race-based ‘targets.’”
On Thursday, Mr. Trump issued a similar executive order against Wilmer Hale, the law firm where Mr. Mueller, a former F.B.I. director, had worked.
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