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federal judge appointed by former President Obama, Beryl Howell, refused the Trump administration’s request to remove her from a case involving the law firm Perkins Coie. Last week, the Department of Justice under Trump sought to disqualify Judge Howell, citing her repeated display of “partiality against and animus towards the president.”
Earlier this month, President Trump revoked the security clearances of employees at Perkins Coie, the firm that represented the Democratic National Committee. Judge Howell temporarily blocked part of Trump’s executive order that barred those employees from entering federal buildings or working on government contracts.
“When you can’t attack the message, attack the messenger.”
That's how Judge Beryl Howell begins her ruling refusing to recuse herself from the lawsuit over Trump's targeting of law firm Perkins Coie.
Ruling https://t.co/z2AoUSv31k pic.twitter.com/7X3Y9d7PjQ
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) March 26, 2025
During the hearing, Judge Howell expressed concern over the president’s authority to prevent businesses from engaging with the government. “Your view is, ‘Don’t be chilled, judge. You can just trust the president to draw the right line, and yes, he has that power?'” Howell asked the DOJ lawyer, according to CNN. “And that’s the government’s position here?”
In its motion to disqualify Judge Howell, the DOJ argued that “reasonable observers may well view this Court as insufficiently impartial to adjudicate the meritless challenges to President Trump’s efforts to implement the agenda that the American people elected him to carry out.” The DOJ cited federal law requiring a judge to recuse themselves if their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned” or if they “has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party.”
BREAKING NEWS FROM THE COURTS
THIS IS A CLEAR EXAMPLE OF A JUDGE THAT SHOULD HAVE RECUSED HERSELF. @julie_kelly2 details federal judge Beryl Howell’s insurrection against President Trump. “These judges are out of control, and they have no oversight.”@Bannons_WarRoom pic.twitter.com/ck8jWebl6N
— Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) March 12, 2025
The motion included a video of Judge Howell harshly criticizing Trump. In her response, Judge Howell accused the DOJ of engaging in “ad hominem attack” designed to “impugn the integrity of the federal judicial system and blame any loss on the decision-maker rather than fallacies in the substantive legal arguments presented.”
