A federal court of appeals took up the issue of national security lawyer Mark Zaid and his once and future security clearance on Thursday.
Setting off the dispute, President Donald Trump issued an executive order in March 2025 stripping Zaid and several other high-profile individuals of their security clearances.
In May 2025, Zaid sued, assailing the executive order as "improper political retribution" and "dangerous, unconstitutional retaliation."
In December 2025, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, a Joe Biden appointee, sided with the plaintiff in a strongly worded 39-page memorandum opinion and order, and the revoked clearance was restored.
On appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the president scored a panel consisting of Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Sri Srinivasan and U.S. Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard, both appointees of Barack Obama, as well as U.S. Circuit Judge Neomi Rao, who was appointed by the 45th and 47th president during his first term.
Appearing for Zaid, attorney Abbe Lowell assailed the agencies that effectuated Trump's targeting of his client as "ignoring not just the policies and procedures to which they were bound…but also the protections in three parts of the Bill of Rights."
To hear the targeted attorney tell it, there are several constitutional avenues of redress through which he should be able to keep his clearance.
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