Executive Order 14230 Targets Perkins Coie, Citing Its Suits Against Election Laws

President Trump issued Executive Order 14230, “Addressing Risks From Perkins Coie LLP”, on March 6, 2025 (signing date, as the court’s later order records it).

The reasons it gives. Among them, the order says the firm worked with donors to “judicially overturn popular, necessary, and democratically enacted election laws” and that a court sanctioned its attorneys for “an unethical lack of candor.” The election-law practice it describes was led at Perkins Coie by Marc Elias until he left to found Elias Law Group in 2021; the order does not name him.

What it ordered. Agencies were to “suspend any active security clearances held by individuals at Perkins Coie,” contractors were to “disclose any business they do with Perkins Coie,” and agencies were to issue guidance “limiting official access from Federal Government buildings to employees of Perkins Coie.”

What happened to it. In Perkins Coie LLP v. DOJ (D.D.C. Civil Action No. 25-716), Judge Beryl A. Howell declared the order unlawful and the government “PERMANENTLY ENJOINED” from enforcing it, in an order dated May 2, 2025.