DOJ Lawyer Tells Court It Will Comply With Order… DOJ Writes Back ‘We’ve Decided To Violate It Instead, Thx Bye.’

Chief Justice Roberts passive-aggressively scolded the Trump administration for spending more time ripping federal judges online than putting together coherent appeals.

While on its face the Roberts statement told the administration to stop litigating its cases on Truth Social, it seemed to carry secondary purpose of heading off the seemingly inevitable moment when the administration flagrantly blows off a federal court order by signaling that the Supreme Court won’t take kindly to that. And the Trump administration responded with tepid public assurances that it has no intention of ignoring orders — at least not without some crackpot excuse — before going back to blasting judges as partisan activists that need to be impeached.

Well, John… mission NOT accomplished!

The federal government launched a holy war against Perkins Coie for having the audacity to have routinely beaten Republicans over the years when the party’s election ratfucking efforts fail. For this transgression, Trump launched multiple attacks against the firm, primarily by means of Executive Order 14230 taking away security clearances and ordering a review of all government contracts with the firm.

The case has proven a comedy of errors for the administration so far.

To wit, Judge Beryl Howell entered a minute order yesterday commanding the government to stop issuing — let’s be honest, intentionally — chilling disclosure requests about relationships with Perkins Coie and go ahead and inform anyone who already got one to go ahead and ignore it. The government had to provide a status report by noon.

They missed that deadline, but DOJ lawyer Chad Mizelle told the court, “Counsel for Defendant were able to confirm with OMB that the guidance required by the Court’s Minute Order was distributed through the OMB process by approximately Noon today, with this Status Report filed as soon as possible following that confirmation.”

HOW’S THAT GOING?!?!?!

The second paragraph Geidner flags comes from the actual status report filed after Mizelle went and made representations to the court. It reads…

The Executive Branch’s position is that Executive Order 14230 is permissible, and that the Court’s order was erroneous. The government reserves the right to take all necessary and legal actions in response to the “dishonest and dangerous” conduct of Perkins Coie LLP, as set forth in Executive Order 14230.

That beeping sound is the bus backing up to run over Mizelle again. He must appreciate his boss making him lie to a federal judge. Presumably — geez, we hope presumably — Mizelle did not know he was about to get blindsided when he made his statement. But given how this administration runs, maybe “lying to a federal judge” was just an item on today’s checklist between lunch and “Declaring Measles Appreciation Day.” Not that it should matter much because a DOJ lawyer — especially one in a leadership position like Mizelle — has to own the sanctions for playing “Opposites Day” with a federal judge.

The “all necessary and legal actions” language appears designed to give the administration the out later to say, “by ‘legal’ of course we meant to appeal!” Which is bullshit. They didn’t say, “we complied but intend to appeal,” they said they think the order is wrong and they’re going to do whatever they want anyway. This sort of coy wording fits within the overarching administration strategy of pushing for a constitutional crisis and leaving just enough room to step back in case there’s too much heat.

But the purpose of a strategy like this is to keep doing it until… the heat just doesn’t materialize.

Got anything left in the tank there, John? Or is this just foreplay for your thank you at the 2026 State of the Union?

Earlier: Perkins Coie Drags Trump Administration Clear To Hell In New Lawsuit
Donald Trump Wants To Impeach Judge Who Dared To Explain Basic Con Law
Watch The Exact Moment John Roberts Realizes He Whored Himself Out

Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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