New Firm Seeks to Confront Trump on Executive Power

Source: New York Times

New Firm Seeks to Confront Trump on Executive Power

The Washington Litigation Group is the latest nonprofit group to join the legal challenges against the president, with a strategy of focusing on appeals early in the case.


Cathy A. Harris was fired without cause from the Merit Systems Protection Board and has enlisted the Washington Litigation Group in her appeals process. Reuters

By Eileen Sullivan
Reporting from Washington
Aug. 4, 2025, 5:02 a.m. ET

Cathy A. Harris learned she was fired for a third time during her daughter's high school graduation. It was a gut punch, she said, on what was meant to be a happy occasion.

The former chairwoman of an obscure but critical panel that mediates federal employee discipline, Ms. Harris was among an early slate of federal employees President Trump fired without cause. She sued the administration and went through four months of employment limbo before the Supreme Court ordered that she remain fired while her case wound through the legal system. … "Right now, I'm really laser-focused on getting my case to a win, however long it takes," Ms. Harris said in a recent interview.

As she carves a path expected to lead back to the Supreme Court, she has added a new law firm to her team of lawyers. The four-lawyer firm, called the Washington Litigation Group, is the latest to join a coterie of pro bono organizations that have emerged in recent months to challenge the Trump administration, which is already facing about 375 lawsuits, according to The Times's latest count.

The firm plans to focus on clients with cases likely headed to the appeals process with the potential to set precedents strengthening civil service protections and reining in executive power. Two of its lawyers, James I. Pearce and Mary Dohrmann, even share Ms. Harris’s experience of being fired by Mr. Trump. Mr. Pearce and Ms. Dohrmann were fired from the Justice Department in January because of their work on Jack Smith’s special counsel team investigating Mr. Trump.

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Seamus Hughes and Cam Baker contributed research.

Eileen Sullivan is a Times reporter covering the changes to the federal work force under the Trump administration.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/eileen-sullivan

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/us/politics/trump-appeals-firings.html