WASHINGTON (AP) – A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a March presidential memo to revoke the security clearance of prominent Washington lawyer Mark Zaid, ruling that the order – which also targeted 14 other individuals – could not be applied to him.
The decision marked the administration’s second legal setback on Tuesday, after the Supreme Court declined to allow Trump to deploy National Guard troops to the Chicago area, ending a first year in office in which President Donald Trump’s efforts to impose a sweeping agenda and pursue retribution against political opponents have been repeatedly struck down by the courts.
US District Judge Amir Ali in Washington granted Zaid’s request for a preliminary injunction, after he petitioned the Trump administration in May to revoke his security clearance. Zaid’s claim called it an act of “improper political retribution” that jeopardized his ability to continue representing clients in sensitive national security cases.
The March presidential memorandum identified Zaid and 14 other individuals who the White House claimed were not suitable to keep their clearances because it was “no longer in the national interest.” The list included targets of Trump’s fury from both the political and legal spheres, including former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, New York Attorney General Letitia James, former President Joe Biden and members of his family.
The action was part of a much broader campaign of retribution that Trump has waged since returning to the White House, including directing specific Justice Department investigations against perceived opponents and issuing sweeping executive orders targeting law firms on legal work he dislikes.
In August, the Trump administration said it was revoking the security clearances of 37 current and former national security officials. The clearance order was a favorite retribution tactic that Trump used – or at least tried – against high-profile political figures, lawyers and intelligence officials in his second term.
Zaid said in his lawsuit that he has represented clients across the political spectrum over nearly 35 years, including government officials, law enforcement and military officials and whistleblowers. In 2019, he represented an intelligence community whistleblower whose account of a conversation between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy helped set up the first of two impeachment cases against Trump in his first term.
“This court joins several others in this district who have enjoined the government from using the summary revocation of security clearances to penalize lawyers for representing people adverse to it,” Ali wrote in his order.
Ali emphasized that his order does not prevent the government from revoking or suspending Zaid’s approval for reasons independent of the presidential memorandum and through normal agency processes. The preliminary injunction does not come into effect until January 13.
Zaid said in a statement, “This is not just a victory for me, it is an indictment of the Trump administration’s attempts to intimidate and silence the legal community, especially lawyers who represent people who dare to question or hold this government accountable.”
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Associated Press reporter Eric Tucker contributed to this report.