Hey there. Wanted to make sure you saw our earlier update — copied below in case
you missed it — about Public Citizen’s lawsuits against the Trump regime. Really
hope you can give it a look if you haven’t already. Thanks!

- Lisa Gilbert, Co-President of Public Citizen

******

Public Citizen has filed 15 lawsuits — so far — against the administration since
Donald Trump returned to power. (Which was just a little over four months ago,
though it sure can feel like a lot more than that at times.)

Read on for a recap of what each lawsuit is about and its current status. There
are a few we haven’t even emailed you about yet, so we’ll start with the most
recent and work back from there.

One note: The federal government comprises many departments and agencies with
long names whose acronyms can look like a bowl of alphabet soup. Some we’ve all
heard of, like the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Some aren’t quite as well
known, like the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman
(CISOMB). Don’t get too hung up on all the terminology.

What it comes down to is that the Trump regime is unilaterally,
unconstitutionally, and unlawfully dismantling the federal government — our government — from Cabinet-level departments that have their own stately
buildings here in Washington, D.C., to obscure sub-agencies that go largely
unnoticed as they do the routine, unheralded work that makes for a functioning
country.

Public Citizen is doing everything we can — within our modest means — to fight
back at every turn. It’s David and Goliath for sure, but we will never back
down.

15. Suing to Maintain an Independent Consumer Product Safety Commission

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) does pretty much what its name
suggests. It conducts product-safety research, sets standards, and issues
recalls. Under federal law, the agency has five commissioners who serve
staggered seven-year terms. To ensure the CPSC’s independence, Congress
stipulated that commissioners can be removed by the president prior to the end
of their terms only “for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office but for no
other cause.”

However — with no explanation and no suggestion of neglect of duty or
malfeasance — Trump has illegally attempted to terminate three CPSC
commissioners whose terms are not complete. On May 21 — representing those
commissioners — Public Citizen filed suit in federal court challenging the
terminations as unlawful and outside the president’s constitutional and
statutory authority.

We are seeking an expedited ruling in the case to have the commissioners
restored to their roles so they can continue their critical work on behalf of
American consumers.

14. Suing to Preserve the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Somewhat under the radar, the regime has been dismantling the National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Housed within the Department of
Health and Human Services — now under the “leadership” of MAGA convert Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. — NIOSH is the country’s premier authority on occupational safety
and health, protecting workers in high-risk industries like mining,
firefighting, construction, and healthcare.

Among other things, NIOSH screens miners for black lung disease, provides
medical monitoring to September 11 first responders, and evaluates the safety of
worksite protective gear (including certifying respirators like the N95 masks
that were so essential throughout the COVID-19 pandemic).

Since Trump’s inauguration, roughly 85% of NIOSH’s staff has been fired, slated
for termination, or otherwise forced out. With NIOSH so weakened, workers
throughout the country who otherwise would have been safe will get sick, hurt,
and killed on the job. (Following coverage of these cuts, a small portion of the
employees have been called back to work.)

On May 14 — in partnership with AFL-CIO attorneys and representing numerous
unions — Public Citizen filed suit in federal court to block the Trump regime’s
illegal shutdown of NIOSH. Our lawsuit seeks an order for the administration to
immediately resume the many activities the law requires NIOSH to perform.

13. Suing to Defend Oversight Offices at the Department of Homeland Security

When Congress created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2002, it
established within the new department an Office for Civil Rights and Civil
Liberties (CRCL) to make sure DHS respected those foundational freedoms.
Congress also established an Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services
Ombudsman (CISOMB) within DHS to help immigrants who experienced problems
dealing with department bureaucracy. And, in response to abuses reported during
the first Trump administration, Congress established an Office of the
Immigration Detention Ombudsman (OIDO) within DHS to monitor conditions in
detention facilities.

On March 21, DHS announced its intention to close all three of these oversight
offices and fire nearly all of the employees. On April 24, Public Citizen —
representing several organizations that work with immigrants and people living
near the US-Mexico border — sued DHS and Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary
Kristi Noem (self-professed dog killer) over the unlawful attempt to shutter the
three oversight offices created and funded by Congress.

After several court hearings, the judge denied our motion for a temporary
restraining order in light of the administration promising to post public
notices indicating that the offices remained open and would continue performing
their statutory functions. Our motion for a preliminary injunction is still
pending.

12. Suing to Block “DOGE” from Ending International Labor Rights Programs

For decades, Congress has authorized funding for the Bureau of International
Labor Affairs (ILAB) within the Department of Labor. ILAB protects workers and
businesses in the United States from unfair competition on the part of companies
and governments that violate workers’ rights to free association and collective
bargaining, that use forced labor or child labor, or that otherwise violate
labor rights to gain an unfair advantage in the global marketplace.

In March, the Trump administration terminated all of ILAB’s cooperative
agreements in one fell swoop. The so-called Department of Government Efficiency
(DOGE) being run by Elon Musk made clear that the regime would not spend the
funds that Congress specifically appropriated to combat unfair labor practices
and to support workers’ rights abroad.

On April 15 — representing several impacted organizations — Public Citizen filed
suit in federal court to block the administration’s abrupt and unlawful bulk
termination of ILAB’s programs. We then filed a motion for a preliminary
injunction and are now waiting for the judge’s decision.

11. Suing to Restore Environmental Tools Scrubbed from Federal Websites

Shortly after the Trump regime took over in January, it started removing
essential information about climate change and environmental justice from the
websites of various agencies — including the Department of Energy, the
Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the
Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The deleted pages were key to explaining how communities around the country are
harmed by or benefit from energy, environmental, and transportation policies.
The pages supported work examining how pollution affects disadvantaged
communities, supplied a means by which community advocates can explain
environmental harms, and provided the foundation for public participation in
regulatory and legislative processes.

On April 14 — on behalf of the Sierra Club, the Union of Concerned Scientists,
and others — Public Citizen filed suit in federal court challenging the removal
of numerous interactive pages related to climate change and environmental
justice from publicly accessible, and taxpayer-funded, government websites. On
May 16, we filed a motion for a preliminary injunction.

10. Suing to Stop Project 2025 Architect from Hiding How Administration
Allocates Funds

Trump put a man named Russell Vought — a self-avowed “Christian nationalist” and
one of the primary architects of the Project 2025 manifesto that is essentially an authoritarian playbook for the Trump regime —
in charge of the federal government’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

One of the many things OMB is responsible for is “apportionment” decisions —
legally binding budget decisions that specify the federal funds that an agency
may spend and any conditions on the agency’s expenditure of those funds. By law,
OMB is required to post information about its apportionments on a publicly
accessible website. But, in late March, OMB took down its Public Apportionments
Database and told Congress that it will stop maintaining the database
altogether.

On April 8 — representing Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
(CREW) — Public Citizen filed suit in federal court challenging OMB’s removal of
the Public Apportionments Database from its website. On April 18, we moved for a
preliminary injunction and partial summary judgment in the case. The court
promptly held a hearing, and we are now waiting for its decision.

9. Suing to Save the Institute of Education Sciences

In 2002, Congress established the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), a
semi-independent division of the Department of Education. By conducting,
supporting, and disseminating high-quality, evidence-based research, IES has
been the cornerstone of research on education in America for over 20 years.

In February, the Department of Education — now being run by billionaire former
professional wrestling magnate and MAGA extremist Linda McMahon — began
dismantling IES by cancelling dozens of contracts for research studies and
support services vital to the agency’s functioning. In March, roughly 90% of IES
employees were notified that they would be terminated.

On April 4 — representing education researchers, practitioners, and
organizations — Public Citizen filed suit in federal court challenging the
administration’s illegal attempt to shut down IES. On May 16, the court held a
hearing on our motion for a preliminary injunction.

8. Suing to Prevent the IRS from Illegally Sharing Taxpayer Data with DHS and
ICE

Like other workers, undocumented workers are required to pay income taxes. The
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is legally required to treat their tax records,
like those of every other taxpayer, as private and confidential — unless
disclosure is specifically allowed by law. No law permits the IRS to disclose
tax records for immigration enforcement purposes. But the Trump regime wants to
access tax data — including names, current addresses, and information about
dependents — to support its mass deportation agenda.

This is not just about the rights of undocumented workers. Congress enacted
taxpayer privacy laws in response to misuse of IRS records during the presidency
of Richard Nixon. If the Trump regime is allowed to carry out this particular
invasion of taxpayer privacy — in flagrant violation of the law — it won’t stop
there. Before you know it, millions and millions of Americans could be subject
to illegal invasions of privacy and government surveillance. It’s a page right
out of the authoritarian playbook.

On March 7 — with co-counsel and on behalf of immigrant rights organizations —
Public Citizen filed suit in federal court to prevent the IRS from engaging in
the unauthorized disclosure of taxpayer information for purposes of immigration
enforcement. On March 14, we filed a motion for a temporary restraining order.
And on March 31, we filed a motion for preliminary injunction to prevent the IRS
from sharing taxpayer information with DHS and U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE).

Our motion for a preliminary injunction was denied. The court held that the law
allows the IRS to share some taxpayer information with ICE solely to support
criminal investigations and that the IRS said that was all it was doing. The
court also indicated that sharing information for civil immigration enforcement
would not be permissible. We then appealed the denial of the motion.

7. Suing to Protect the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

In 2008, Wall Street’s reckless greed set off a worldwide financial crisis. In
response, Congress — exercising its constitutional authority to regulate
commerce — established a new federal agency, the Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau (CFPB), to protect the American people from wrong or unfair conduct by
Big Banks and other giant financial institutions. Public Citizen played a major
role in the creation of the CFPB, which has recovered billions for everyday
Americans and helped create a fairer, more transparent financial marketplace.

While Trump has openly declared his intent to “totally eliminate” the CFPB, the
administration cannot lawfully dismantle a federal agency created by statute.
Any attempt to do so is in defiance of the Constitution’s separation of powers.

On February 13, Public Citizen and co-counsel filed suit in federal court to
block the administration’s illegal and unconstitutional attempt to dismantle the
CFPB. On February 14, the judge barred the administration from firing employees
or sending out reduction in force notices, from destroying CFPB data or records,
and from defunding the agency while the case proceeds.

At a March hearing, lawyers were able to cross-examine current and former CFPB
officials and employees, who made plain that the administration had planned,
illegally, to eliminate the agency altogether. In a 115-page decision, the court
granted our motion for a preliminary injunction, barring the administration from
taking steps to destroy the agency. We are now waiting for the court of appeals
to rule.

6. Suing to Block Trump’s Illegal and Inhumane Foreign Aid Freeze

On his very first day back in office, Trump issued an executive order directing
agencies to freeze foreign assistance that supports humanitarian efforts
worldwide.

On February 10, Public Citizen filed suit in federal court on behalf of two
organizations — AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and Journalism Development
Network — that receive federal grants for humanitarian work. On February 12, we
filed a motion for a temporary restraining order requiring the administration to
allow aid groups funded by the U.S. to resume work while the case proceeds. The
judge issued a temporary restraining order on February 13.

On February 26, with the administration so far having failed to comply with the
order, the judge ordered it to release funds by midnight that day for work
performed before the freeze went into effect. Instead, the administration asked
the Supreme Court to overturn the judge’s order and excuse its noncompliance.

On March 5, the Supreme Court rejected the administration’s request to excuse
its noncompliance with the judge’s order requiring payment of completed work. On
March 6, Public Citizen lawyers were back in court arguing for a preliminary
injunction requiring the administration to allow work, and funding for that
work, to resume while the case proceeds. The court granted our motion for a
preliminary injunction in part.

On May 2, we amended the lawsuit to include an additional plaintiff, the Center
for Victims of Torture. And we asked the court to order reinstatement of the
over 80% of foreign assistance funding that had been cancelled. Meanwhile, the
administration’s appeal of the preliminary injunction order is pending.

One other point worth making in relation to this case: Polls reveal that
Americans tend to think foreign aid accounts for 25% or even 50% of all federal
spending and that they would prefer it to be something like 10% instead. In
reality, only about 1% of the federal budget — just one penny out of every
dollar — goes to foreign aid. With that relatively modest expenditure, American
aid helps millions and millions of people all across the world who are facing
disease, famine, illness, malnutrition, and oppression.

5. Suing to Keep “DOGE” out of the Department of Education

DOGE operatives infiltrated Department of Education databases that include
financial information of thousands of student-loan applicants and their
families.

On February 7, Public Citizen filed suit in federal court to block DOGE from
accessing these databases. On February 18, the judge denied our motion for a
temporary restraining order. We later dismissed the case.

4. Suing to Preserve the U.S. Agency for International Development

Shortly after returning to power, Trump tried to dissolve the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) — in clear disregard for the law and the
Constitution. Elon Musk later bragged that he had spent a weekend “feeding USAID
into the wood chipper.”

Established by Congress in 1961 — when John F. Kennedy was president — USAID
provides life-saving food, medicine, and support to much of the rest of the
world. In January, though, Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio illegally
ordered USAID workers to stop doing their jobs, froze the agency’s funding, and
prepared to lay off or fire nearly all employees. With USAID in disarray,
medical clinics, soup kitchens, refugee assistance programs, and countless other
critical projects across the globe could not operate.

On February 6 — with co-counsel at Democracy Forward and representing two
federal worker unions — Public Citizen filed suit in federal court to stop Trump
from carrying out this global humanitarian nightmare. We initially got a
temporary restraining order, but the judge later lifted it, allowing the
administration to terminate the majority of USAID’s employees. We subsequently
added Oxfam America as an additional plaintiff and filed a motion for summary
judgment, which is still pending.

3. Suing to Restore Critical Health Information Deleted from Government Websites

Under the “leadership” of MAGA sycophants installed by Trump, many federal
agencies — including essential public health agencies like the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
— recklessly removed important information and data from their websites.

The CDC and FDA wiped from their websites vital information that doctors and
researchers all across the country were using to treat patients, monitor
diseases, advance medical discoveries, and save lives. For example, the CDC
scrubbed information about school bullying, contraception, and preventing the
spread of HIV. The FDA deleted pages about increasing female enrollment in
clinical trials. In some instances, information that had been publicly available
going back to the 1990s had vanished.

On February 4 — on behalf of Doctors for America — Public Citizen filed suit in
federal court to reverse the unlawful deletion of critical health information
from government websites. Two days later, we filed a motion for a temporary
restraining order, which the court granted on February 11, requiring the
administration to restore the deleted webpages and datasets while the case
proceeds.

On March 11, we filed a motion for a preliminary injunction and summary judgment
in the case. That motion is still pending before the judge.

2. Suing to Limit “DOGE” Infiltration of the Treasury Department

The U.S. 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 access to the data.

On February 3 — representing the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American
Federation of Government Employees, and the Service Employees International
Union, with co-counsel at Democracy Defenders Fund — Public Citizen filed suit
in federal court to stop Trump’s Treasury Department from illegally sharing
Americans’ information with DOGE in violation of the federal Privacy Act.

We filed a motion for a temporary restraining order on February 5. The next day,
the court issued an interim order preventing Elon Musk and any of his DOGE
operatives from accessing the Treasury data while the case proceeds. On March 7,
the court denied our motion for a preliminary injunction, relying on
administration promises not to engage in the misconduct we warned about. We have
since filed a motion for summary judgment in the case.

1. Suing over Failure of “DOGE” to Comply with the Federal Advisory Committee
Act

Within minutes of Trump taking office on January 20, Public Citizen — joined by
the American Federation of Government Employees and Democracy Defenders Fund —
filed suit in federal court alleging that Trump’s so-called Department of
Government Efficiency (DOGE) was not complying with the Federal Advisory
Committee Act. That law requires federal advisory committees to consist of
members with a fair balance of viewpoints, to make meetings open to the public,
and to make records and work product available to the public.

The case was later consolidated with two similar cases that were filed soon
afterward. With DOGE mutating into something much more than an advisory
committee, we voluntarily dismissed the case in early March.

OK, that was a lot. Here’s a far shorter version:

Together, we have — at least for now — saved the Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau from complete destruction. We have limited the damage that Elon Musk’s
“DOGE” operatives were able to do in various departments. We have helped keep
thousands of people in critical jobs throughout the federal government. We have
helped restore essential health and environmental information that the regime
tried to scrub from public websites. And much more.

Even where we haven’t (yet) notched definitive victories in court, we are
slowing down the regime and making it work a lot harder in pursuit of its desire
for absolute power.

Are these lawsuits alone enough to fully defeat Trump and MAGA? Of course not.
But are they a meaningful part of the pushback that is the only chance we have
to collectively save our country? No doubt about it.

What you and Public Citizen are doing together matters. What hundreds of other
organizations, big and small, are doing matters. What millions upon millions of
our fellow Americans are doing matters. We believe that to our core. We take
solace in that. And we draw inspiration from that. We hope you do, too.

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For progress,

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


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