SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- A prominent San Francisco legal firm has hit out at President Donald Trump's efforts to sanction lawyers and law firms handling cases that oppose the administration. Keker, Van Nest & Peters issued a statement earlier this week slamming a White House memo issued on Saturd ay as "inexcusable and despicable." The memo is titled, "Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court." Among other things, it threatens "reassessment of security clearances" and "termination of any Federal contract" for attorneys or lawyers hired to handle cases involving election integrity, immigration or litigation against the federal government. Stanford, Cal investigated in Trump’s anti-DEI campaign "Trump's new Executive Order underscores how far removed this President, Attorney General and Administration are from our nation's Constitution and bedrock values," reads a statement from the law firm's founders, John Keker, Robert Van Nest, Elliott Peters, and managing partner, Laurie Carr Mims. "Our liberties depend on lawyers' willingness to represent unpopular people and causes, including in matters adverse to the Federal Government," the statement continues. "An attack on lawyers who perform this work is inexcusable and despicable. Our profession owes every client zealous legal representation without fear of retribution, regardless of their political affiliation or ability to pay." The lawyers encouraged other law firms to sign on to an amicus effort to support Perkins Coie's challenge to the Trump administration's executive order targeting the firm, "and to resist the Administration's erosion of the rule of law." Perkins Coie, another San Francisco law firm, filed a lawsuit challenging an executive order from Trump restricting attorney's security clearances and access to federal facilities. In the past, Trump has clashed with the firm over its work advising Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and for its involvement in the controversial, discredited Steele dossier. WilmerHale, a prominent Washington D.C. law firm, also filed suit against the Trump administration Friday, over the executive order targeting law firms. One of the lawyers at WilmerHale is Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who investigated allegations of collusion between Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. ...read more read less