We have good news to share in three of the 17 lawsuits Public Citizen has filed so far against the regime since Donald Trump returned to power.
RESTORING CRITICAL HEALTH INFORMATION TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITES
In response to Trump’s executive order on “gender ideology,” many federal agencies — including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — 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 diagnose and treat patients, monitor disease, 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 was taken down.
In February — on behalf of Doctors for America and the City and County of San Francisco — Public Citizen filed suit in federal court to reverse the unlawful deletion of critical health information from government websites. We also filed a motion for a temporary restraining order — which the court granted on February 11 — requiring the administration to restore the deleted webpages and data while the case proceeds.
On July 3, the court granted our motion for summary judgment, ordering restoration of the deleted webpages and invalidating the underlying instructions from the Trump regime.
PRESERVING ACCESS TO VITAL EDUCATION DATA
In 2002, Congress established the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) within 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 restricting access to key data and cancelling dozens of contracts for research studies and support services vital to the agency’s functioning.
In April — representing education researchers, practitioners, and organizations — Public Citizen filed suit in federal court challenging the administration’s illegal attempt to shut down IES.
On July 1, following our lawsuit, the administration announced that it would not go forward with its plan to terminate access to certain data.
The regime is still cutting other essential programs and services at IES, however, so we are pressing ahead with our case.
DEFENDING THE CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) does what its name suggests — it conducts product-safety research, sets standards, and issues recalls.
Congress set up the CPSC as an independent agency specifically so that the safety of American consumers would not be subject to political whims. 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.”
In May, Trump illegally fired three CPSC commissioners whose terms were not complete. Representing those commissioners, Public Citizen filed suit in federal court challenging the terminations as outside the president’s constitutional and statutory authority.
Last month, a federal judge ruled in our favor and ordered that the commissioners must be allowed to return to work. The administration asked both the district court and the court of appeals to “stay” that ruling (i.e. put it on hold) while it appeals.
Both the district court and the court of appeals denied the administration’s motion.
The administration has now asked the Supreme Court to rule on the matter. The Supreme Court has not yet ruled.
MORE ABOUT TAKING THE REGIME TO COURT
The Trump administration 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 small 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. 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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- Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen
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