From Public Citizen <[email protected]>
Subject 'one of the most important lawsuits in the history of the United States'
Date February 4, 2025 11:11 PM
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A quick update on the lawsuit we emailed you about earlier today.

The suit is getting coverage throughout the media — domestically and
internationally — from the likes of Axios, Bloomberg, CBS, The Guardian, The New York Times, Newsweek, NPR, Politico, USA Today, and many, many others.

The American Prospect calls it “one of the most important lawsuits in the history of the United
States.”

Our earlier note is copied below in case you missed it.

******

Public Citizen just filed another lawsuit against the Trump regime.

We are demanding an immediate halt to the massive and patently illegal invasion
of privacy being carried out by Elon Musk’s “DOGE” at the U.S. Treasury
Department.

This new lawsuit follows the separate one we filed — just moments after Trump
was sworn in on January 20 — about how his so-called Department of Government
Efficiency is operating in secrecy.

Here are the basics on this new lawsuit:

* The Treasury Department possesses sensitive personal and financial
information for millions and millions of Americans who send money to or
receive money from the federal government.

* Federal laws protect such information from improper disclosure and misuse —
including by barring disclosure to individuals who lack a lawful and
legitimate need for it.

* But instead of protecting Americans’ private information as required by law,
Scott Bessent — Trump’s jillionaire Treasury Secretary — allowed DOGE full
access to the data.

* And he punished the Treasury employee who — in accordance with his job duties
and the law — tried to protect that information from improper access.

* Public Citizen is representing the Alliance for Retired Americans, the
American Federation of Government Employees, and the Service Employees
International Union in this case, with co-counsel at State Democracy
Defenders Fund.

As our new lawsuit spells out, the scale of this intrusion into individuals’
privacy is massive and unprecedented.

This lawsuit demands an immediate end to the systematic, continuous, and ongoing
violation of federal laws that protect the privacy of personal information
contained in federal records.

If you can, please donate today to support Public Citizen’s work standing up to
the Trump regime. [[link removed]]

Anything you can chip in — $5 or $25, $50 or $100, $500 or even more — will help
at such a critical moment. [[link removed]]

CONTRIBUTE NOW [[link removed]]
Or join our popular Monthly Giving program (if you haven’t already) to help make
sure we have the ongoing financial resources to fight Trump day after day after
day. [[link removed]]

If you already donated to help us fight the Trump regime, thank you so much! We
didn’t want you to miss out on hearing about this new lawsuit, but please don’t
feel any pressure to make another contribution.

Thank you for being part of this shared project called Public Citizen.

For justice,

- Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen


Public Citizen | 1600 20th Street NW | Washington DC 20009 | Unsubscribe
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