Trump administration seeks to disqualify judge in law firm case

By Andrew Goudsward

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration on Friday asked the federal judge overseeing a challenge to Trump's executive order targeting law firm Perkins Coie to step aside from the case, accusing her of a "pattern of hostility" toward the president.

Justice Department lawyers said U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell's impartiality might "reasonably be questioned." They cited her past rulings against Trump and remarks in cases against his supporters arising from the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"This Court has not kept its disdain for President Trump secret," the lawyers wrote in a court filing. "It has voiced its thoughts loudly—both inside and outside the courtroom."

Howell, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, last week temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing much of its order against Democratic-linked Perkins Coie, finding it likely violated the U.S. Constitution.

The Trump administration has escalated its criticism of federal judges in recent weeks as courts have emerged as one of the few constraints on Trump's expansive use of presidential power.

A spokesperson for the D.C. federal court did not immediately return a request for comment.

Trump's order against Perkins Coie, a major Seattle-founded law firm, sought to prevent the firm from doing business with federal contractors and to deny its lawyers access to government officials and buildings. It was a response to the firm's work for Trump's former political opponent Hillary Clinton.

Howell, who said last week that the legal industry was "watching in horror" at the measure, has made pointed comments in cases connected to Trump about protecting the rule of law and American democracy.

After Trump pardoned defendants charged in January 6 cases, Howell blasted the pardons as perpetuating a "revisionist myth" about the riot and said they glorified "poor losers" upset that Trump lost the 2020 election.

The Trump administration cited that order in its motion to disqualify the judge and a separate ruling in which Howell compelled a former Trump attorney to testify to a grand jury hearing evidence about Trump's retention of classified documents.

The lawyer's testimony formed part of a since-dismissed criminal case against Trump over the documents.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Diane Craft and Daniel Wallis)