Judge Declares Trump's Order Against Susman Godfrey 'Unconstitutional From Beginning to End'

Judge Loren L. AliKhan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia struck down Executive Order 14263, which had suspended security clearances, cancelled federal contracts and restricted building access for the law firm Susman Godfrey. The judge declared the order unconstitutional from beginning to end and null and void. The order, signed on 2025-04-09, followed the firm's representation of Dominion Voting Systems in defamation litigation against Fox News, Rudolph Giuliani and Sidney Powell over false claims about the 2020 election. A temporary restraining order had been granted on 2025-04-15.

The case is notable because the targeted conduct was the firm's successful representation of a client suing over election disinformation, making the order a direct penalty for past litigation the president disfavoured. It was the fourth and final of the firm-specific orders to be struck down in full.

The Justice Department appealed on 2025-08-26. The appeal was argued at the D.C. Circuit on 2026-05-14 alongside three parallel cases and remained undecided as of August 2026.