Elizabeth Prelogar, the top Supreme Court litigator in President Joe Biden’s administration, is joining Jenner & Block’s team in the firm’s fight against a Trump administration executive order.
Prelogar entered an appearance Wednesday, joining other former solicitors general in taking up law firms’ challenges to Trump order targeting the firms. Donald B. Verrilli Jr., who served under President Barack Obama, represents Susman Godfrey in a suit challenging a similar executive order. Paul Clement, solicitor general under President George W. Bush, represents WilmerHale.
Four firms—Jenner, Susman, WilmerHale, and Perkins Coie—filed suits last year over President Donald Trump’s orders. The orders, which targeted firms based on their affiliations with lawyers and clients who had crossed President Trump, were struck down as unconstitutional by four federal judges, prompting the Justice Department to file appeals.
Prelogar’s role comes as the firms face pressure from the appeals court to consolidate their cases given their substantial similarities. The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in a Sept. 23 motion said it “looks with extreme disfavor on repetitious submissions.”
It’s unclear who would serve as lead counsel if the cases are consolidated.
Prelogar didn’t immediately return a phone request for comment. She re-joined Cooley last year to lead the law firm’s appellate practice after working there for a year before joining the Biden administration in 2021.
Trump’s orders barred the four firms’ lawyers from having security clearances and entering federal buildings. The president, who said he was fighting back against “lawfare,” also threatened to cancel government contracts held by the firms’ clients, and ordered investigations of law firm diversity practices.
Nine other Big Law firms pledged a combined $940 million in free legal services to the White House, ostensibly to avoid executive orders. They are A&O Shearman, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Milbank LLP, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher.
The case is Jenner & Block LLP v. DOJ, D.C. Cir. App., 25-05265, 1/21/26
(Adds Clement involvement in second paragraph. )
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