'Absurd!' Judge blasts Trump executive order targeting top law firm

A federal judge on Tuesday angrily tore into President Donald Trump's executive order targeting the top law firm WilmerHale and struck down the entire order as unconstitutional.

"The cornerstone of the American system of justice is an independent judiciary and an independent bar willing to tackle unpopular cases, however daunting. The Founding Fathers knew this!" wrote Judge Richard Leon in the scathing, exclamation-point-filled opinion in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

To let Trump's order stand, Leon wrote, "would be unfaithful to the judgment and vision of the Founding Fathers!"

The judge, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President George W. Bush, suffused his 73-page order with a tone of open fury rarely seen in judicial pronouncements.

"Please—that dog won't hunt!" Leon wrote in response to arguments from the Trump administration that WilmerHale's claims of harm resulting from the executive order were merely speculation.

"This argument is absurd!" the judge later wrote, balking at the administration's attempt to dispute whether Trump's order caused WilmerHale to lose clients.

Since becoming president a second time, Trump has issued a laundry list of presidential orders and memos targeting law firms that have either worked on cases brought against him or hired his political enemies.

Trump's order targeting WilmerHale explicitly criticized the firm for hiring Robert Mueller, who served as Department of Justice special counsel and oversaw a probe of possible coordination between Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.

As part of the order, Trump instructed the U.S. attorney general to suspend security clearances for the firm's lawyers and he commanded federal agency heads to terminate WilmerHale's government contracts. Trump's order also barred WilmerHale employees from entering U.S. government buildings and prohibited federal agencies from hiring the firm's lawyers.

The law firm sued in late March, calling the order an "unprecedented assault" on the foundations of the judicial system and seeking to have it invalidated.

"The Court's decision to permanently block the unlawful executive order in its entirety strongly affirms our foundational constitutional rights and those of our clients," WilmerHale said in a statement after Leon's ruling Tuesday afternoon. "We remain proud to defend our firm, our people, and our clients."

The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment on Leon's opinion.