Trump administration relaunches defense of law firm executive orders

The Justice Department on Tuesday said it would pursue its bid to revive President Donald Trump‘s executive orders punishing four prominent law firms, abruptly reversing course just a day after seeking to withdraw its appeals in the cases.

The Trump administration had appealed last year after federal judges struck down executive orders targeting Perkins Coie, WilmerHale, Jenner & Block and Susman Godfrey over their legal work, diversity programs and political affiliations.

The administration on Monday asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to dismiss its appeals. On Tuesday the Justice Department asked the court to withdraw its request.

The government in its filing said it is the “prerogative” of the administration to pursue the appeals but did not explain the about-face.

The White House referred a request for comment to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.

The four law firms told the appeals court they “oppose the government’s unexplained request to withdraw yesterday’s voluntary dismissal, to which all parties had agreed.”

Four different federal judges appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents ruled to permanently strike down Trump’s executive orders last year, siding with the law firms and finding that the orders violated the firms’ free speech rights and other protections under the U.S. Constitution.

The Justice Department had faced a deadline of March 6 to file its opening court papers in the appeals. The court has not yet set a date to hear the cases.

The seeming abandonment of the appeals had drawn praise on Monday from civil libertarians and others who criticized the administration over the executive orders, which sought to restrict the firms’ business operations in retaliation for cases they took or attorneys they hired.

Nine other prominent law firms, including Paul Weiss, Skadden Arps, Latham & Watkins and Kirkland & Ellis, settled with ​the White House last ⁠year to rescind or avoid similar actions against them by the administration.