Law Firms Suing Trump Are Poised To Argue Their Cases Separately

The DC appeals court overseeing lawsuits by four Big Law firms against the Trump administration’s punitive executive orders appears to side with the firms in their requests for separate briefings.

The Justice Department has until 12 p.m. on Feb. 5 to argue against the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s proposed briefing schedule, according to an order to show cause Tuesday.

The schedule, if approved, would allow Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, Susman Godfrey, and WilmerHale to file “up to four briefs,” which would allow each firm to make arguments individually.

The firms last year won injunctions against the enforcement of President Trump’s executive orders. The orders, which allege the firms weaponized the justice system, barred lawyers from having security clearances, blocked them from entering federal buildings, and threatened to cancel government contracts held by the firms and their clients.

The Justice Department in January requested that the court delay the litigation until it issued a decision in a case involving another Trump-targeted lawyer, Mark Zaid, or else consolidate all four cases to avoid “duplicative briefing.”

But lawyers for the four firms said in a joint motion that each case raises separate legal and factual issues. “In a case with such high stakes, each appellee should have the opportunity to put forward its own arguments, through its chosen counsel and in its own voice, in response to the government’s appeal,” they said.

The Tuesday show cause order would also grant a request made by both parties: same day arguments to take place before the same judicial panel.

Susman Godfrey LLP v. Executive Office of the President, et al, D.C. Cir., 25-05310, 2/3/26