Lawyers from Public Citizen are in court literally right now.

We are making the case for emergency action (a temporary restraining order, in legal terminology) to immediately stop what Elon Musk’s “DOGE” is doing at the U.S. Treasury Department.

We are also asking the court to order that all information already accessed by DOGE be retrieved and safeguarded from further illegal access.

This is an essential next step in the lawsuit we filed Monday afternoon. Our original note about that lawsuit is copied below in case you missed it.

Something else:

We want to thank everyone who has donated to support our work standing up to the Trump regime, which — as you can imagine — does take significant financial resources.

If you can donate, it really does help.

If a donation is not right, we get it.

Either way, we promise to keep you informed about this critical legal action — which has already been called “one of the most important lawsuits in the history of the United States” by The American Prospect — and the other work we’re doing to fight the Trump regime.

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

And, again, you can read more about the lawsuit below.

Lisa & Robert
Co-Presidents of Public Citizen

******

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.

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

CONTRIBUTE NOW
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.

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