On April 11, 2025, CPR joined a diverse group of academic law centers, university professors, unions, and legal advocacy organizations filing friend of the court briefs in support of litigation by two private law firms, WilmerHale and Jenner & Block. Both firms were the subject of Executive Orders filed in March of 2025 revoking their security clearances and requiring Government agencies and contractors to disclose any business they may have with the firms, terminate existing federal contracts, and refrain from hiring firm employees.
Amici underscored the important First Amendment rights of freedom of expression and association at issue in these cases noting that, “the Government violates the First Amendment when it sanctions law firms because it objects to their choices about which causes to take up.” Amici also urged the Court not to credit allegations that these firms were a threat to national security, pointing to litigation surrounding the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II as a cautionary lesson about judicial deference to unsubstantiated claims of national security. Finally, Amici described in detail the important pro bono work done by both firms, including cases which brought to light serious legal violations being perpetrated against detainees at Guantanamo Bay prison. Amicus brief authors include the Korematsu Institute at the University of California, Irving.