The Justice Department appeared to reverse course on Tuesday by signaling its intention to continue carrying out the Trump administration’s legal battle against top law firms with ties to Democrats, just one day after filing to dismiss its latest appeal.
In a short filing on Tuesday, the DOJ did not provide an explanation for the rapid about-face. The filing is just the latest step in President Donald Trump’s efforts to target law firms he claims are biased against his administration. The DOJ had appealed a lower court decision in June that struck down Trump’s executive orders aimed at restricting the firms’ access to the federal government.
On Monday, the DOJ dropped its appeal without explanation, but less than 24 hours later, a second court filing moved to withdraw the motion to dismiss and continue the litigation. Before Monday’s withdrawal, the Justice Department was expected to file its opening brief on Friday. It is unclear how the schedule may be impacted by the legal whiplash.
In a statement of opposition in response to Tuesday’s filing, the lawyers representing the targeted firms argued, “Under no circumstances should the government’s unexplained about-face provide a basis for an extension of its brief.”
The White House referred NOTUS to the DOJ, which declined to comment.
In a statement to Politico, a spokesperson for one of the targeted firms, Perkins Coie, said the Justice Department had “abruptly reversed course and moved to continue its defense of the unconstitutional executive orders.”
“It offered no explanation to either the parties or the court for its reversal,” the statement said.
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