WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Justice has served subpoenas on 14 prominent law firms that were either specifically named in recent White House executive orders or reached agreements with President Trump in lieu of complying with those directives, according to copies of the court filings made public on Friday in federal court in Washington.
The document requests demand detailed records of the firms' communications that relate to the contested executive orders. Among the targeted material are records of any communications with Boris Epshteyn, identified in the subpoenas as a long-standing adviser to President Trump, dating from the start of the president's second term. The subpoenas also seek any correspondence the firms may have had with the American Bar Association concerning Epshteyn.
It is not yet known whether any of the subpoenaed firms will formally contest the requests in court.
The Justice Department made the subpoenas public in a filing responding to a lawsuit the American Bar Association filed last year. In that lawsuit the ABA claims its members have been harmed by what it describes as an unlawful policy by the Trump administration to penalize law firms for their prior legal representations, their internal diversity policies and their political associations.
In its court filing, the Justice Department urged U.S. District Judge Amir Ali to deny an ABA request for similar information about the administration's law firm executive orders. The DOJ argued the ABA should "seek this information from its own members, or the law firms at issue, rather than going directly to the White House."
The filing further stated that the department's subpoenas directed to the law firms are intended to "obtain the documents that Plaintiff has requested."
Representatives for the ABA and the Justice Department did not immediately provide comment in response to requests. A White House spokesperson also had no immediate comment. Spokespeople for the subpoenaed law firms likewise did not immediately respond to inquiries.
The litigation has heightened scrutiny of the Trump administration's actions toward major law firms and could complicate matters for firms that negotiated settlements rather than resisting the executive orders. Four law firms that sued the administration last year secured court orders permanently blocking the executive orders that singled them out. The administration has appealed that outcome; the appeal is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which heard arguments in May.
Context and next steps
The subpoenas, as disclosed in the ABA litigation, set the stage for further legal exchanges between the Justice Department, the American Bar Association and the affected law firms. How the firms respond to the document and deposition demands - whether by complying, negotiating scope, or litigating the subpoenas - will determine the path of evidence-gathering in the ongoing case.
As of the time of the filing, the extent to which the requested materials will be produced or the timing of any court challenges remained unresolved.