John Robinson

COUNSEL

John@JacobsonLawyersGroup.com

John Robinson is a litigator with extensive experience in high-stakes cases involving the federal government. He has particular experience in cases involving administrative and constitutional law, including litigation involving federal funding, government transparency, the First Amendment, and the Equal Protection Clause.

At Jacobson Lawyers Group, John has worked on a series of significant challenges to federal government action, including:

  • American Council of Learned Societies v. McDonald: Representing leading humanities organizations in successfully challenging the mass termination of NEH grants on First Amendment, Equal Protection, and ultra vires grounds.

  • Global Health Council v. Trump: Representing USAID contractors and grantees in case challenging government’s refusal to spend foreign aid funding appropriated by Congress.

  • American Historical Association v. Trump: Representing historical association and government watchdog group in litigation challenging the federal government’s determination that the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional.

  • City of Saint Paul v. Wright: Represented Department of Energy grantees in obtaining reinstatement of their awards after district court held that the government violated the First Amendment.

  • Environmental Defense Fund v. Wright: Represented the Environmental Defense Fund and Union of Concerned Scientists in a successful challenge under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to the Department of Energy’s creation of a “Climate Working Group.”

Before joining Jacobson Lawyers Group, John served as a trial attorney in the Department of Justice’s Federal Programs Branch, where he defended federal agencies and officials in some of the government’s most consequential litigation.

John previously practiced at Arnold & Porter and Kirkland & Ellis. He clerked for Judge Rosemary S. Pooler of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Judge Joan B. Gottschall of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School and from Yale College.