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WilmerHale, one of the law firms targeted in Donald Trump’s campaign against the white-shoe legal establishment, said Tuesday that a government agency suspended security clearances for two of its lawyers.
Paul Clement, a well-known appellate lawyer representing WilmerHale, said in a filing that the two lawyers received letters on May 9. The agency, which was not named, pulled the security clearances because of Trump’s executive order against the firm, according to the filing.
“This development underscores that the Executive Branch stands ready and willing to implement the Executive Order absent judicial intervention,” the filing said.
Judge Richard Leon, who is overseeing the dispute, previously instructed the government not to enforce some parts of the executive order, including those related to WilmerHale’s work for government contractors and a ban on the firm’s access to government buildings. But he allowed a review of WilmerHale employees’ security clearances to go forward.
Legal precedent holds that “security clearance decisions are within the purview of the executive branch,” the judge wrote in late March.
In his Tuesday filing, Clement asked the judge to stop and roll back the security clearance review. He also offered to file the two suspension letters under seal.
WilmerHale is one of four firms that have decided to fight the executive orders in court. In his March executive order, Trump singled out the firm’s work with Robert Mueller, among other things, writing that it “is also bent on employing lawyers who weaponize the prosecutorial power to upend the democratic process and distort justice.”
The White House and the Justice Department, which is representing the government in the case, didn’t immediately respond to comment requests on Wednesday.
Representatives for WilmerHale didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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