I previously wrote about Pres. Trump’s clearly unlawful attacks on big law firms here and here. Since then, all four big law firms which challenged that very strange Executive Order won motions to dismiss at the district court level. That means even without a formal hearing, the judges agreed that Pres. Trump’s silly EO held no water. Those four different cases were then consolidated on appeal. The appeal was lodged with the D.C. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.

Wisely it seemed at the time, Dept. of Justice on Monday, March 2, filed a motion seeking to withdraw its appeals against the four big firms. For about 24 hours, it appeared the firms had won. It appeared DOJ decided against pursuing a futile appeal. But, no, the next day, Tuesday, DOJ filed a new motion asking to withdraw its Monday motion. DOJ said it now wished to pursue these appeals, after all. “Oops,” they said, sort of. The Department pointed out that the Court had not yet ruled on its Monday motion asking to drop the appeals.

In the legal business, like most businesses, its is rather embarrassing to change your mind within 24 hours. I am sure some higher level person, seeing the publicity about the four big firms claiming victory, prompted a change. But, now, how must it look to three busy, over-worked appellate judges at having to work on an appeal that was withdrawn for 24 hours? This inability to make up its mind is the opposite of effective advocacy. Effective advocacy involves reminding the court at every step that you believe in your case. Changing your mind twice in two days is the oppostivce of effective advocacy. See ABA BA Journal here for more information.