Ex-DOJ Chief Garland Joins Arnold & Porter, Firm Suing Trump (1)

Merrick Garland, who served as attorney general for much of the Biden administration, is returning to Arnold & Porter as the firm takes on President Donald Trump in court.

Garland rejoined Arnold & Porter as a partner in the firm’s appellate and Supreme Court practice group, the firm said Friday. Garland will represent the firm’s clients in civil and criminal litigation, antitrust, and administrative law.

The moves marks the third stint at Arnold & Porter for Garland, who previously served as a judge in Washington and saw his nomination for a Supreme Court seat by President Barack Obama scuttled by Senate Republicans.

“It is an honor to return to Arnold & Porter, where I first learned how to be a lawyer and about the important role lawyers can play in ensuring the rule of law,” Garland said in a prepared statement Friday. “The firm has a culture of excellence, and I look forward to working with its exceptional group of highly sophisticated attorneys.”

Arnold & Porter’s lawyers are challenging moves by the Trump administration in multiple pending cases, including a suit by Democrats on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board who were fired by Trump shortly after he returned to the White House. A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that the firings were unlawful. The firm is also representing groups suing the administration over its dismantling of the US Agency for International Development and slashing of grants.

Arnold & Porter was one of the few Big Law firms that joined an amicus brief backing Perkins Coie, which sued Trump over an executive order targeting the firm. Three other major law firms have filed similar suits after being hit with executive orders because of their ties to lawyers who have investigated the president or gone up against him in court.

Trump has singled out former special counsel Jack Smith and others who worked on Smith’s investigations of the president for interference in the 2020 election and mishandling classified documents. Garland as attorney general appointed Smith to oversee the probes.

Arnold & Porter has been involved in litigation adverse to presidents of both parties. In 2023, the firm’s lawyers brought a case on behalf of SoFi Bank challenging President Biden’s education department for extending a moratorium on student loan repayments. SoFi and its lawyers dropped the case after Congress passed legislation that established a timeline for resuming repayment.

Before he was tapped to serve as Biden’s top law enforcement officer, Garland served on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit from 1997 through 2020, serving as the circuit’s chief judge beginning in 2013. Republican senators refused to hold a vote on his 2016 nomination for the Supreme Court, leaving the seat unfilled until Trump was elected for his first term. Trump later tapped Neil Gorsuch for the seat.

As attorney general, Garland appointed Robert Hur to investigate then-President Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents. Hur’s investigation resulted in a report in which he described Biden as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”

“Judge Garland’s distinguished career on the bench and in the government will add a unique dimension to Arnold & Porter’s sophisticated regulatory and litigation practices, particularly in the areas of appellate, complex litigation, antitrust, and white-collar defense,” Michael Daneker, global co-chair of Arnold & Porter, said in an announcement Friday.