# Marc Elias **Marc Elias** (b. 1969) is the [[Democratic Party]]'s leading election lawyer, and probably the most prolific voting-rights litigator in the country. He is the Democratic counterpart to the right's [[Ben Ginsberg]]-era election bar. His career runs through both of the vault's main threads: he is a primary target of the "Russia hoax" counter-narrative, and a central figure in the legal defense of the vote. ## Perkins Coie and the dossier For years Elias chaired [[Perkins Coie]]'s political law practice, representing Democratic committees and campaigns. As general counsel to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, he hired **[[Fusion GPS]]** in April 2016. Fusion then commissioned Christopher Steele, producing the **[[Steele Dossier]]**. The campaign and the DNC recorded the payments to Perkins Coie as "legal services." In March 2022 they paid the FEC **$113,000** ($105,000 from the DNC, $8,000 from the campaign) to settle complaints over that reporting, without admitting wrongdoing. The dossier connection has made Elias a fixture of the right's Russia counter-narrative, and of the Durham-era "Grand Conspiracy" framing alongside [[Michael Sussmann]], his former Perkins Coie colleague. ## The voting-rights practice - **2020 election.** Elias led the Democratic legal response to Trump's attempt to overturn the result. By one widely cited count, his side won 64 of 65 post-election cases. - **His own firm.** In August 2021 he left Perkins Coie and founded **Elias Law Group**, which now litigates voting rules, ballot access and redistricting in dozens of states. - **Media.** In 2020 he founded **[[Democracy Docket]]**, the litigation-tracking news site that has become the left's main source on voting cases. ## Named by the President - **The memo.** On **March 21, 2025**, a presidential memorandum, "Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court," directed the Attorney General to seek sanctions against lawyers who bring "frivolous" suits against the government. It named Elias directly, citing his "direct involvement in creating a false 'dossier.'" - **The order against his old firm.** On March 6, 2025, Trump signed an executive order targeting Perkins Coie and citing the Fusion GPS hiring. Judge [[Beryl Howell]] **permanently struck it down on May 2, 2025**. No 2026 federal action against Elias personally has been found. ## 2026 Elias Law Group was among the counsel in the D.C. challenge to Trump's March 2025 elections order. On Jan 30, 2026, Judge Kollar-Kotelly permanently blocked more of the order's citizenship-verification provisions. The firm is also active in the 2025–26 mid-decade redistricting wars; see [[Redistricting Timeline 2025-2026]]. That field turned sharply against the voting-rights side after [[Louisiana v. Callais]] (April 29, 2026). Elias's specific role in individual 2026 redistricting cases is not confirmed here. ## See Also - [[Perkins Coie]] · [[Fusion GPS]] · [[Steele Dossier]] · [[Michael Sussmann]] - [[Democracy Docket]] · [[Jurists and Legal Advocates]] · [[Voter Suppression]] · [[Gerrymandering]] · [[Redistricting Timeline 2025-2026]]