The U.S. Justice Department has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to issue a stay of all proceedings involving the litigation between the Trump administration and four law firms, including Susman Godfrey, until the government shutdown is over.
In a four-page motion to stay, U.S. Deputy Associate Attorney General Richard Lawson, who has been leading the DOJ’s legal battle against Susman Godfrey, Perkins Coie, WilmerHale and Jenner Block, told the federal appeals judges that “opposing counsel has authorized counsel for the government to state that they take no position on this motion.”
“Although we greatly regret any disruption caused to the court and the other litigants, the government hereby moves for a stay of the court’s order regarding potential consolidation in this case until Department of Justice attorneys are permitted to resume their usual civil litigation functions,” Lawson wrote in the motion. “Absent an appropriation, Department of Justice attorneys and employees of the federal defendants are prohibited from working, even on a voluntary basis, except in very limited circumstances, including emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property.”
The DOJ asked the D.C. Circuit that all current deadlines “be extended commensurate with the duration of the lapse in appropriations — i.e., each deadline would be extended by the total number of days of the lapse in appropriations.”
Susman Godfrey sued the Trump administration and about two-dozen federal agencies in April after President Donald Trump issued an executive order that accused the Houston-based law firm of “egregious conduct and conflicts of interest” and representing “clients that engage in conduct undermining critical American interests and priorities.” The presidential EO suspended “security clearances held by individuals at Susman Godfrey pending a review of whether such clearances are consistent with the national interest.”
Susman Godfrey sued, and a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that President Trump’s EO was unconstitutional and issued a restraining order preventing the order from being enforced. The federal government has appealed.