Judge Overstepped With Jenner & Block Order, Trump Officials Say

A judge overstepped his authority in halting much of an order targeting Jenner & Block, as US agencies retain the power to decide who to work with, Trump administration officials said Tuesday.

“An unelected district court yet again invaded the policy-making and free speech prerogatives of the executive branch,” Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House budget director Russell Vought said in a court filing. “Local district judges lack this authority and the Supreme Court should swiftly constrain these judges’ blatant overstepping of judicial power.”

US District Judge John Bates on March 28 instructed the Trump administration to suspend parts of an executive order President Donald Trump had issued days earlier. Trump’s order was intended in part to punish Jenner & Block for its ties to former partner Andrew Weissmann, an ex-Justice Department official who was a top member of Robert Mueller’s special counsel team.

Bates in his ruling suspended parts of the order that restricted Jenner lawyers from accessing US buildings and that instructed federal agencies to terminate government contracts with the firms’ clients.

Bondi and Vought said agencies should suspend activities as directed by Bates. But they also noted that “agencies are permitted to carry on their ordinary course of business which carries with it the authority to decide with whom to work.”

The two Trump officials filed their memorandum as a part of the Justice Department’s status report on the lawsuit. Jenner & Block filed a motion Tuesday asking the judge to permanently block Trump’s executive order.

The Justice Department also on Tuesday filed a motion to dismiss Jenner & Block’s complaint. Justice argued that the executive order “directs agencies to do what they should already be doing, declines to contract with entities who act inconsistently with valid social policies regarding discrimination, and calls for the lawful examination of security clearances and government access of employees” of Jenner & Block.

The case is: Jenner & Block v. U.S. Department of Justice, D.D.C., No. 1:25-cv-00916, memo 4/8/25.