FCC and Carr Targeted in Perkins Coie Lawsuit Over Executive Order
Law firm Perkins Coie sued the U.S. government over a White House executive order aimed at the firm, and the lawsuit names the FCC and Chairman Brendan Carr as defendants, along with a host of agencies and agency leaders. A federal judge reportedly temporarily blocked the executive order in a ruling Wednesday. No order was yet visible in the docket Wednesday evening. The order, which accuses Perkins Coie of “undermining democratic elections” and committing racial discrimination through its diversity policies, limits the firm’s attorneys from accessing federal buildings and requires federal contractors to disclose relationships with it, among other things. It targets the firm over its past representation of former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and its work with George Soros. “The Order is an affront to the Constitution and our adversarial system of justice,” said the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “Its plain purpose is to bully those who advocate points of view that the President perceives as adverse to the views of his Administration.”
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While the lawsuit includes “the United States of America” as a defendant, it also specifically lists a selection of federal agencies and their leaders, including Carr and the FCC, as well as U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and DOJ, the OMB and Director Russell Vought, among others. The suit doesn’t explain why the FCC is among those singled out, but it says government employees have told Perkins Coie attorneys that they couldn’t attend scheduled meetings with the attorneys. “The day after the President signed the Order, an official of a federal agency, informed a client of Perkins Coie that, because of the Order, the client’s Perkins Coie lawyers should not attend a scheduled meeting with an office in that agency to discuss a pending matter,” the filing said. Perkins Coie has a communications and technology practice.
Several clients have subsequently terminated their legal engagements with Perkins Coie over the order, the filing said. The lawsuit calls on the court to declare the order unconstitutional and enjoin implementation of it. The FCC and Perkins Coie didn’t comment.
A presidential memorandum in February that similarly targeted Covington & Burling was much less expansive, naming specific attorneys associated with Special Counsel Jack Smith, who led efforts to prosecute President Donald Trump under the previous administration. It also didn’t contain language restricting access to federal buildings or require contractor disclosures. “Covington serves as defense counsel to Jack Smith in his personal, individual capacity. We look forward to defending Mr. Smith’s interests and appreciate the trust he has placed in us to do so,” a Covington spokesperson said.