Feb 11 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's billionaire

ally Elon Musk on Tuesday directed his ire at U.S. law firms

that have teamed up with advocacy groups to challenge the

Republican's sweeping policy changes in court.

"Which law firms are pushing these anti-democratic cases to

impede the will of the people?" Musk, the world's richest man,

wrote on his social media platform X.

The post was his first to target law firms involved in

cases against the Trump administration, though he did not

identify a specific firm. Musk did not immediately respond to a

request for comment.

The Tesla CEO and owner of X, who has been

spearheading efforts to slash the federal workforce and

spending, also criticized judges who have issued rulings that

paused Trump's executive actions. "Democracy in America is being

destroyed by judicial coup," Musk wrote in a separate post on X.

The post on law firms focused on a ruling by U.S. District

Judge Angel Kelley that temporarily blocked the administration's

sharp cuts to federal grant funding for universities, medical

centers and other research institutions.

That lawsuit was brought in Boston by Democratic attorneys

general from 22 U.S. states challenging cuts adopted by the

National Institutes of Health. Two other related lawsuits

related to NIH funding have been brought by groups represented

by law firms Jenner & Block and Ropes & Gray.

The two law firms, which did not immediately respond to

requests for comment, are among more than eight large and medium

sized U.S. law firms that have signed on to lawsuits against the

Trump administration related to funding cuts, immigration

restrictions and transgender rights.

Many of the firms, including Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Hogan

Lovells, Jenner & Block and Perkins Coie, are handling the cases

without charge. The firms either declined to comment or did not

immediately respond to requests for comment on Musk's post about

law firms.

Musk has used his social media megaphone in the past to

criticize prominent law firms by name.

In 2022 he denounced Perkins Coie, writing on X, then known

as Twitter, that they "thrive on corruption" in reference to the

firm's past work for Trump's 2016 Democratic election opponent

Hillary Clinton.

Most of the more than 50 lawsuits opposing Trump policy

moves so far have not been brought by law firms, but rather by

legal advocacy groups, unions, Democratic states and federal

grant recipients.