in effect
This is a presidential executive order (EO 14250), signed March 27, 2025, targeting the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP (WilmerHale). It directs federal agencies to review and roll back the firm’s access to government security clearances, facilities, contracts, and personnel dealings, citing conduct the order describes as contrary to U.S. interests.
Agencies (led by the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence) are told to immediately suspend any active security clearances held by WilmerHale personnel, pending a review, and the Office of Management and Budget must identify government goods, property, and services provided for the firm’s benefit — including Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities — so agencies can stop providing them. Contracting agencies are directed to require their contractors to disclose any business they do with WilmerHale, and agency heads must review and, where allowed by law, terminate contracts on which WilmerHale is hired. Within 30 days of the order, agencies must send OMB an assessment of contracts involving WilmerHale or entities that do business with it. Agencies are also told to limit WilmerHale employees’ access to federal buildings, limit official contact between government employees and the firm, and refrain from hiring its employees unless the agency head grants a waiver. Nearly every directive is qualified by phrases like “to the extent permitted by law.”
WilmerHale and its employees are the direct targets — losing clearances, building access, government-provided facilities, and consideration for federal hiring. Federal contractors that do business with WilmerHale are also affected, since they must disclose that relationship and may see related contracts reviewed or terminated. The order states it creates no legal rights enforceable against the U.S. government by any party.