‘Just a Complete Destruction of This Executive Order’: Jeffrey Toobin in Awe of Judge’s Ruling Against Trump

President Donald Trump was dealt a blow in federal court on Wednesday as a judge blocked his executive order targeting a major law firm.

Trump signed an executive order last week mandating that security clearances be stripped from Perkins Coie, which represented Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. The order also cut off the firm’s attorneys from access to federal facilities and called for a review of any federal contracts the firm has.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the order violates the Constitution on multiple fronts. On Wednesday’s AC360 on CNN, Anderson Cooper read excerpts from her ruling.

“Judge Beryl Howell called Trump’s order a ‘punishment for a singled-out entity being disloyal,'” Cooper noted. “She went on to say when ‘the Queen of Hearts yells off with their heads for her subjects that it cannot be the reality we are living under.'”

Cooper then welcomed former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Toobin, who explained why Howell’s ruling was a first for him.

“You know, Anderson, I’ve heard a lot of court rulings, but I have never heard a judge declare something unconstitutional in so many different ways,” Toobin said. “She said this was a violation of the First Amendment free speech rights. She said it was a violation of the right to counsel. She said it was a violation of due process. She said it was a bill of attainder, which means it was specifically targeted against one entity, this law firm. I mean, it was just a complete destruction of this executive order – for now.”

Toobin noted that the Trump administration will appeal the ruling and that the case “may have a different fate.”

Cooper pointed out that the attorney for Trump’s Department of Justice had made sweeping arguments about executive power.

“He was saying the president has the right to go after any company or any individual that he feels is a threat,” the host said.

“And the president doesn’t have to give a reason,” Toobin replied. “It can be a good reason. It can be a bad reason. And Judge Howell made a very interesting argument. She said, ‘You mean, you could go after Williams and Connolly,’ which was the law firm representing Perkins Coie. ‘You could go after them for representing Perkins Coie.’ And the Justice Department lawyer sort of danced around it, but basically said, ‘Yes, this is entirely in the discretion of the president.’ And this conflict about the scope of presidential power is what all of these conflicts are really about.”

Watch above via CNN.