NEW YORK—The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University today filed a lawsuit seeking the agreements made earlier this year between the Trump administration and major law firms following a series of executive orders targeting the firms. In May, the Knight Institute filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Justice, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), for records related to the agreements. To date, the government has failed to produce the records. 

“It’s deeply troubling that these federal agencies have failed to release these documents, keeping the scope of the administration’s vindictive campaign against its perceived enemies, including major law firms, from the public eye,” said Katie Fallow, deputy litigation director at the Knight First Amendment Institute. “Americans have a right to know the details of these agreements and what the government expects from the firms that decided to capitulate to the administration’s unlawful coercion.”

Since January 2025, President Trump has undertaken an unprecedented campaign to punish law firms whose clients, causes, or personnel he disfavors. Through a series of executive orders and presidential memoranda, the Trump administration has directed federal agencies to target individual firms, including by scrutinizing their internal employment policies. In addition, on March 17, 2025, the EEOC sent letters to 20 law firms requesting extensive information about the firms’ so-called DEI-related employment practices. 

To date, four law firms have filed legal challenges to the executive orders. Courts have issued temporary restraining orders in three of the challenges. In one, the court granted the firm’s motion for summary judgment and held that the administration’s “unprecedented attack” on the legal profession is unconstitutional. At least nine law firms have struck agreements with the Trump administration or curtailed DEI programs that the White House signaled it views as  unlawful.  

The Knight Institute is represented by Deanna Paul of Walden Macht Haran & Williams LLP. 

Read today’s complaint here.

Learn more about this case here.

For more information, contact: Adriana Lamirande, [email protected]