A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a March presidential memorandum to revoke the security clearance of prominent Washington attorney 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 in recent days, after the Supreme Court declined to allow Trump to deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area, capping a first year in office in which President Trump’s efforts to impose a sweeping agenda and pursue retribution against political adversaries have been repeatedly slowed by the courts.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in Washington granted Zaid’s request for a preliminary injunction after he sued the Trump administration in May over the revocation of his security clearance. Mr. Zaid’s request 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 singled out Mr. Zaid and 14 other individuals who the White House asserted were unsuitable to retain their clearances because it was “no longer in the national interest.” The list included targets of Mr. Trump’s political and legal foes, including former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, New York Attorney General Letitia James, former President Joseph R. Biden and members of the Biden family.
In August, the Trump administration also said it was revoking the security clearances of 37 current and former national security officials. Ordering the revocation of clearances has been a favored tactic that Mr. Trump has wielded — or at least tried to — against high-profile political figures, lawyers and intelligence officials in his second term.
Mr. 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 Mr. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy helped set the stage for the first of two impeachment cases against Trump in his first term.
“This court joins the several others in this district that have enjoined the government from using the summary revocation of security clearances to penalize lawyers for representing people adverse to it,” Judge Ali wrote in his order.
The judge emphasized that his order does not prevent the government from revoking or suspending Mr. Zaid’s clearance for reasons independent of the presidential memorandum and through normal agency processes. The preliminary injunction does not go into effect until Jan. 13.
Mr. Zaid said in a statement, “This is not just a victory for me, it’s 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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