A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration's effort to strip whistleblower attorney Mark Zaid's security clearance.

The big picture: Zaid, who represented a whistleblower whose complaint led to Trump's first impeachment, is one of dozens of people from whom the administration has yanked security clearances in a broader retribution campaign.

• "This is not just a victory for me, it's an indictment of the Trump administration's attempts to intimidate and silence the legal community, especially lawyers who represent people who dare to question or hold this government accountable," Zaid said in a statement given to Axios.
• Trump ordered for Zaid's clearance to be revoked in March — along with that of former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former Vice President Kamala Harris and several other prominent politicians and attorneys.
• The president's memo read that it was "no longer in the national interest" for those individuals "to access classified information." Zaid subsequently sued in May over what his complaint called "improper political retribution."

Driving the news: U.S. District Judge Amir Ali wrote in a Tuesday order granting Zaid's request for a preliminary injunction that Zaid is likely to succeed on First Amendment, procedural due process and right-to-counsel grounds.

• "Based on the preliminary injunction record, the court finds that Zaid's representation of whistleblowers and other clients adverse to the government was the sole reason for summarily...

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