This is the 598th day of Donald Trump’s second term.

Public Citizen has sued the administration 50 times (and counting) since Donald Trump returned to power.

That averages out to one lawsuit every 12 days.

Read on for a recap of every case. (We know folks want to hear about everything we’re doing to confront the Trump regime. We also know this is a pretty long email. Some of you might read every word and get through the whole note in one sitting. Some of you might skim through it or skip around or come back to it a few times. The critical work we’re doing together merits a substantive review — so that’s what this is — but please take it in at whatever pace makes it useful for you.)

One note before we get to the lawsuits themselves:

Court cases can move slowly. Donald Trump exploits this reality by breaking the law so often that the legal system gets overwhelmed. But that system is still one of the best ways we have of collectively standing up to the Trump regime. What’s the alternative, just give up? Not on our watch.

Public Citizen will keep taking the Trump regime to court as long as it keeps breaking the law.

We will not win every case, even some that we should win.
But we have already won some cases outright.
In other cases, we won a preliminary ruling (while the case goes on) that limited or delayed a destructive thing the administration was doing or wanted to do.
In still other cases, we forced the regime to reveal information it was unlawfully trying to keep from the American people.
If you can, please donate today to support Public Citizen as we continue standing up to the Trump regime. ([link removed])

CONTRIBUTE NOW ([link removed])

OK, on to the recaps of every case so far (starting with the most recent, then working back from there).

LAWSUIT #50 — EXTORTION OF POORER COUNTRIES

DATE FILED: August 24, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To force the Trump administration to disclose exploitative “agreements” it bullied poorer countries into signing — which give the United States access to valuable assets, including sensitive data and natural resources — by withholding critical health assistance.

BACKGROUND: The Trump regime has taken a sledgehammer to foreign aid. (By the way, while polls show that many Americans think foreign aid accounts for as much as half of all federal spending, in reality, only about 1% of the federal budget — just one penny out of every dollar — goes to foreign aid.) This assault on foreign aid has literally killed people. But that, apparently, is not sinister enough for the Trump regime. The Trump administration is also using foreign aid to bully other countries into giving the regime access to the countries’ data and natural resources. Like the villain in a trite action movie, the Trump regime is extorting poorer countries and putting the lives of millions of people at risk so that American corporate tycoons and their MAGA cronies can get even richer. Worse still, the Trump administration is keeping the terms of these coercive agreements secret. Under the Freedom of Information Act, we are seeking copies of the agreements. The administration ignored our official request, so we sued.

WHERE THINGS STAND: This lawsuit relates to an earlier case (see Lawsuit #36 below) on the same topic. The deadline for the administration’s initial response to our lawsuit is just weeks away.

LAWSUIT #49 — TRUMP CORRUPTS OUR NATION’S 250TH BIRTHDAY

DATE FILED: August 20, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To let the American people see exactly what has been going on with the shady enterprise Trump set up to solicit money from billionaires and Big Business in the name of celebrating our country’s 250th birthday.

BACKGROUND: The summer of 2026 marked the United States of America’s 250th anniversary as a nation. Donald Trump and others in his administration saw our country’s 250th birthday as just another excuse to sell America out to corporate interests. (Is there anything they won’t try to corrupt?) The Trump gang created a shadowy company — Freedom 250 LLC — that billionaires and corporations looking to curry favor with the regime could pour money into without disclosing where the funds came from or what the money was spent on. Meanwhile, the regime doled out over one hundred million dollars in contracts — supposedly for things related to the 250th anniversary — to businesses run by MAGA supporters and even members of the Trump administration itself. Public Citizen launched an investigation under the Freedom of Information Act, seeking documents about the administration’s agreement with Freedom 250 LLC. The administration ignored our official request, so we sued.

WHERE THINGS STAND: The deadline for the administration’s initial response to our lawsuit is just weeks away.

LAWSUIT #48 — SECRET “DEALS” FOR OTHER COUNTRIES’ MINERALS

DATE FILED: August 20, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To make the Trump administration release the texts of agreements it claims to have made with 38 other countries for valuable minerals.

BACKGROUND: In February 2026, the Trump regime announced agreements giving the United States access to critical minerals in 38 different countries. But the administration has been so secretive about these “deals” that it hasn’t even disclosed the names of most of the other countries. Transparency matters here, because these agreements involve our taxpayer dollars, impact the mining and allocation of limited natural resources, commit the U.S. government to certain obligations, and more — yet the public currently has no way to confirm what commitments were made or even which countries are involved. Under the Freedom of Information Act, we are seeking the texts of these agreements, because the American people have a right to know what’s being negotiated in our name with other countries. The administration ignored our official request, so we sued.

WHERE THINGS STAND: The deadline for the administration’s initial response to our lawsuit is just weeks away.

LAWSUIT #47 — EXPOSING “OPERATION ICE WALL”

DATE FILED: August 17, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To expose the Trump administration’s unlawful treatment of immigrant truck drivers.

BACKGROUND: As part of the Trump regime’s overall brutality towards immigrants (or people it perceives as immigrants from certain countries), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has undertaken something it calls “Operation ICE Wall.” As a result of Operation ICE Wall, immigrant truck drivers have been unlawfully arrested and detained by ICE. Under the Freedom of Information Act, we are seeking records about Operation ICE Wall. The administration ignored our official request, so we sued.

WHERE THINGS STAND: The deadline for the administration’s initial response to our lawsuit is just weeks away.

LAWSUIT #46 — FOOD ACCESS OR FREE SPEECH?

DATE FILED: July 30, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To stop the Trump administration from violating the free speech rights of groups that get federal grants to help farmers, fight hunger, and improve access to healthy food.

BACKGROUND: The Trump regime announced new rules for groups that get grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These new rules impose reactionary and unlawful restrictions on what grantees can say and do related to “DEI,” “gender ideology,” and immigration. Groups that help fight hunger, protect the environment, and ensure access to healthy food should not have to choose between continuing that work and submitting to the Trump regime’s ideological speech codes. Public Citizen is partnering with Earthjustice and FarmSTAND in representing a variety of nonprofit organizations to bring this lawsuit.

WHERE THINGS STAND: We filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to block the new rules while the case goes forward. The judge has not yet ruled on that motion.

LAWSUIT #45 — TEEN PREGNANCY PREVENTION

DATE FILED: July 14, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To prevent the Trump administration from politicizing a successful teen pregnancy prevention program in pursuit of its own regressive agenda.

BACKGROUND: Congress, with bipartisan support, established the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program in 2009. Since then, teen pregnancy rates have fallen significantly. But in June of 2026, the Trump administration made significant and sudden changes to the program — such as including funding only for initiatives that exclusively promote abstinence-only before marriage and terminating funding for initiatives that consider populations disproportionally affected by unintended pregnancy (such as LGBTQ+ young people), discuss sex, promote fertility planning, or do not promote ideologically-driven misinformation about contraception. Lawsuits from Public Citizen, Democracy Forward, and Planned Parenthood defeated similar actions during Trump’s first term. Now, Public Citizen is partnering with Democracy Forward, Dunn Isaacson Rhee LLP, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America in representing a coalition of organizations and local governments to bring this lawsuit.

WHERE THINGS STAND: The judge granted our motion for a preliminary injunction in part, preventing implementation of the changes while the case goes forward. We will be asking the judge to issue a final ruling in our favor.

LAWSUIT #44 — SLURP SLURP SLURP

DATE FILED: July 7, 2026

WHY WE SUED: Exposing the truth about Trump’s $1.776 billion slush fund for MAGA crooks and cronies.

BACKGROUND: In May of 2026, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced an absurd “settlement” in a bogus lawsuit that Donald Trump had filed against his own Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Trump knew his lawsuit was a sham. He outright admitted that he would “work out a settlement with myself.” In what amounts to a shakedown of the American people, Trump “dropped” his meritless lawsuit in exchange for the DOJ agreeing to use $1.776 billion of taxpayer money to pay MAGA loyalists and others who claim the law was “weaponized” against them. Trump officials openly stated that people convicted of crimes related to the attempted coup d’etat carried out in Trump’s name on January 6, 2021, would be eligible for payouts. The so-called settlement also gave Trump, his family, and their assorted businesses sweeping, unprecedented immunity from tax investigations. Shortly after the “settlement” and slush fund were announced, Public Citizen launched an investigation — under the Freedom of Information Act — seeking records from the government related to the amount of the fund and any communications between Trump’s lawyers and the DOJ. When the DOJ blew off the deadline for responding to our official Freedom of Information Act requests, we sued.

WHERE THINGS STAND: The DOJ filed a response to our lawsuit, saying nothing specific. We are now asking the judge to issue a schedule for disclosure of documents.

LAWSUIT #43 — DEFENDING ASYLUM SEEKERS

DATE FILED: July 7, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To force the Trump administration to stop sharing asylum-applicant information with the government of Iran and to notify asylum seekers whose information was unlawfully shared.

BACKGROUND: The Trump regime is rejecting asylum seekers from Iran, including pro-democracy activists, members of religious minorities, and LGBTQ+ people. These are people who fear being persecuted, tortured, or even killed if they are forcibly returned to their home country. What’s more, when deporting people to Iran, the administration — in flagrant violation of its own regulations — has been giving the Iranian government confidential information that people included in their asylum applications about why they fear for their safety. This illegal and inhumane revelation of the reasons people sought asylum could very well put them, along with their loved ones back in Iran, in great danger. On behalf of the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund, we are suing the Trump administration in federal court.

WHERE THINGS STAND: We filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to halt the information sharing while the case goes forward and to inform asylum seekers whose information has already been shared. The judge will hold a hearing next month to consider evidence on that motion.

LAWSUIT #42 — COMMERCIAL DRIVERS LICENCES

DATE FILED: June 3, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To make the Trump administration respond to a Freedom of Information Act enquiry into its correspondences with state officials related to commercial drivers licenses.

BACKGROUND: As part of its racist and xenophobic approach to everything, the Trump regime has scapegoated non-citizens who are legally authorized to work here and who have legally received commercial drivers licenses. In 2025, the regime ordered the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to review state records on commercial driver’s licenses issued to non-citizens. That agency issued preliminary findings that many states were not compliant with the regime’s discriminatory and unfounded standards. In November of 2025, Public Citizen submitted a Freedom of Information Act request seeking the agency’s correspondence with state departments of motor vehicles concerning these driver’s licenses. The agency failed to produce the requested records, so we sued.

WHERE THINGS STAND: Success! After we sued, the administration began releasing the requested documents.

LAWSUIT #41 — PATEL PARTIES AT OLYMPICS

DATE FILED: June 3, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To obtain records — under the Freedom of Information Act — to investigate whether FBI Director Kash Patel misused government resources to go party at the Olympics.

BACKGROUND: In a video that went viral worldwide, FBI Director Kash Patel was captured drinking beer with (and spraying beer on) members of the U.S. men’s hockey team after they won gold at the Olympics in Italy. Patel, who is known to be a hockey fan, claimed that he was in Italy on official FBI business. Quick point: (1) Partying with athletes in locker rooms has not historically been considered among the duties of FBI directors (or any other government officials, for that matter). In February, Public Citizen launched an investigation to find out whether Patel misused government resources to go party at the Olympics. Under the Freedom of Information Act, we are seeking records related to Patel’s trip, such as his official itinerary, receipts, and any meeting agendas. By law, the federal government is generally supposed to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests within 20 business days — basically one month. In this instance, the FBI “estimated” that it would not respond to our Freedom of Information Act request for “2,010 days” — more than five and a half years. The FBI’s stalling is both absurd and illegal, so we filed a lawsuit in federal court asking that the FBI be ordered to follow the law and respond to our Freedom of Information Act request without further delay.

WHERE THINGS STAND: The FBI has asked for an absurdly long time to begin processing our official Freedom of Information Act request. We will be filing an update with the court next week.

LAWSUIT #40 — TRUMP’S $1.776 BILLION SLUSH FUND

DATE FILED: May 28, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To challenge the establishment of Donald Trump’s $1.776 billion slush fund for MAGA crooks and cronies.

BACKGROUND: It started with Trump filing a ridiculous lawsuit against the IRS — well after any legal claim had expired — over a leak of some of his tax records in 2018, while he was president. Without offering a shred of evidence that he was harmed by the leak, Trump’s bogus lawsuit asked the IRS to “compensate” him $10 billion. This case was basically Donald Trump v. Donald Trump, since Trump currently controls the entire executive branch, including the IRS. Trump knew his lawsuit was a sham. He outright admitted that he would have to “work out a settlement with myself.” In what amounts to a shakedown of the American people, pure and simple, Trump “dropped” his meritless lawsuit in exchange for getting a $1.776 billion pot of taxpayer money that his regime can dole out to assorted MAGA loyalists who claim the law was “weaponized” against them. As Trump officials have openly stated, that could include people convicted of crimes related to the attempted coup d’etat carried out in Trump’s name on January 6, 2021. Trump and his family may well be the biggest beneficiaries of all, because there is nothing in the agreement that prevents them from collecting hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from it. (The “settlement” even contains a clause by which the federal government is “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing” Trump, his children and other family members, and their numerous businesses over any existing issues related to their tax returns.)

WHERE THINGS STAND: The slush fund is very much still a concern. Todd Blanche rescinded his order establishing the fund to satisfy some senators whose votes he needed to get confirmed as attorney general. But Trump continues to say he wants to funnel our tax dollars to pay “weaponization” claims. So, while the administration moved to have our lawsuit dismissed, we filed a motion for summary judgment, asking the court to issue a final ruling in favor of our client. The judge will consider both sides’ motions later this month.

LAWSUIT #39 — DISCRIMINATION IN LENDING

DATE FILED: May 27, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To prevent the Trump administration from reversing 50 years of protections that materially reduced discrimination against women, people of color, seniors, and otherwise underserved borrowers.

BACKGROUND: For half a century, a law called the Equal Credit Opportunity Act has worked to greatly diminish discrimination in lending against women, people of color, seniors, and others who had systematically been denied access to financial independence and opportunity. But in April of 2026, the Trump regime issued an unfounded new rule that arbitrarily dismantles some of the act’s key protections. We are representing the National Fair Housing Alliance, Rise Economy, and two fair lending compliance firms in this lawsuit challenging the rule, with co-counsel at Relman Colfax, PLLC, and Democracy Forward.

WHERE THINGS STAND: Both sides are preparing motions seeking a final decision in the case.

LAWSUIT #38 — JUSTICE FOR IMMIGRANT WORKERS

DATE FILED: April 20, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To prevent tens or even hundreds of thousands of noncitizens from losing their authorization to work in the United States through no fault of their own.

BACKGROUND: Because of longstanding and ongoing processing delays on its end, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has for many years provided automatic extensions of work permits when the agency fails to process renewal applications before an existing permit expires. USCIS has previously acknowledged that the automatic extensions are necessary to prevent hundreds of thousands of lawful workers from experiencing a lapse in work authorization through no fault of their own but rather due to the agency’s own backlogs. But in October of 2025, the Trump regime abruptly and unlawfully ended these extensions.

WHERE THINGS STAND: After we filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in this case, and just three weeks before our client’s work authorization would have expired, the agency renewed her work authorization, which ended the case.

LAWSUIT #37 — GOVERNMENT ETHICS

DATE FILED: April 16, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To make the Trump administration provide records — under the Freedom of Information Act — about how, or even if, it looked into possible ethics concerns relating to employees of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

BACKGROUND: At the outset of his second term, Trump — along with Elon Musk, the richest person on the planet — concocted the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). They staffed it with an assortment of inexperienced outsiders, many from Musk’s own companies, some still in their teens. These “DOGE bros” immediately started infiltrating numerous federal agencies and interfering with critical government work, recklessly and often illegally (forming the basis of some of our earlier lawsuits against the regime — see below). In June of 2025, Campaign Legal Center, under the Freedom of Information Act, requested records from the Office of Government Ethics about communications related to potential conflicts of interest among DOGE employees. The administration has not yet produced any of the requested information, so, on behalf of Campaign Legal Center, we sued to force them to do so.

WHERE THINGS STAND: Success! After we sued, the administration released the requested documents.

LAWSUIT #36 — EXTORTION OF POORER COUNTRIES

DATE FILED: April 3, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To force the Trump administration to disclose exploitative “agreements” it bullied poorer countries into signing — which give the United States access to valuable assets, including sensitive data and natural resources — by withholding critical health assistance.

BACKGROUND: The Trump regime has taken a sledgehammer to foreign aid. (By the way, while polls show that many Americans think foreign aid accounts for as much as half of all federal spending, in reality, only about 1% of the federal budget — just one penny out of every dollar — goes to foreign aid.) This assault on foreign aid is literally killing people. But that, apparently, is not sinister enough for the Trump regime. In recent months, the Trump administration has used foreign aid to essentially bully other countries into giving the regime access to their data and natural resources. Like the villain in a trite action movie, the Trump regime is extorting poorer countries and putting the lives of millions of people at risk so that American corporate tycoons and their MAGA cronies can get even richer. Worse still, the Trump administration is keeping the terms of these coercive agreements secret. Under the Freedom of Information Act, we sought copies of the agreements. After the regime failed to respond, we sued, asking a federal court to order the Trump administration to produce the relevant records so that the American people can know how the Trump regime is exploiting other countries — and putting lives at risk — in our names.

WHERE THINGS STAND: Success! After we sued, the administration began releasing the requested documents.

LAWSUIT #35 — TRUMP’S GIANT VANITY ARCH

DATE FILED: February 19, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To stop the illegal construction of a gargantuan, self-aggrandizing arch that Trump wants to erect in Washington, D.C., just outside the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery, across from the Lincoln Memorial.

BACKGROUND: This arch joins a litany of Trump vanity projects: banners bearing his scowling face hanging from government buildings all over our nation’s capital; his (now rejected) effort to affix his name to the storied Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; his illegal demolition of the East Wing of the White House so that he can build a gaudy Billionaire Ballroom; and more. These are the types of things we expect from real-world despots and fictional authoritarians like Big Brother in George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. But the law is clear: Trump does not have the authority to construct the arch without approval from Congress, which he does not have. Public Citizen, representing a group of Vietnam War veterans and an architectural historian, is suing in federal court to stop construction of Trump’s illegal vanity arch.

WHERE THINGS STAND: On September 4 — after the administration announced its intention to begin excavation imminently — we urged the court to issue a temporary restraining order preventing the administration from moving forward with construction. The judge promptly entered an order requiring the government to provide the court with 48 hours’ notice before engaging in any other activity on Memorial Circle and stating that any construction, or demolition in preparation for construction, before the National Park Service issues final authorization or without 14 days’ notice would be a violation of the court’s orders.

LAWSUIT #34 — CATASTROPHIC CLIMATE DENIALISM

DATE FILED: February 18, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To confront the Trump regime’s climate denialism and its illegal attempt to undermine the Clean Air Act.

BACKGROUND: On February 12, Trump illegally repealed a critical element of U.S. environmental policy that is absolutely essential in the fight to avert climate disaster. We’re talking about something called the “endangerment finding” — a determination made under the landmark Clean Air Act that authorized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate greenhouse gasses that pose a risk to the health or welfare of human beings. For over 15 years, the endangerment finding has formed the basis for the EPA’s actions to address climate change. But if the regime gets its way, “EPA” might as well stand for Enable Pollution Always. Public Citizen is part of a coalition of health and environmental groups that is suing Trump’s EPA in federal court for abandoning its duty to protect the American people from air pollution and to regulate the greenhouse gasses that fuel climate change.

WHERE THINGS STAND: We are waiting for the court to rule on preliminary motions filed by both sides.

LAWSUIT #33 — TRUMP’S ATTACK ON AUTHORIZED IMMIGRANT WORKERS

DATE FILED: February 13, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To challenge a rule from Trump’s Department of Transportation that prohibits asylum seekers, refugees, and DACA recipients — individuals who are legally authorized to work in the United States — from getting or renewing commercial driver’s licenses.

BACKGROUND: In the Fall of 2025, we sued over a preliminary version of this discriminatory rule (see Lawsuit #23 below). The judges sided with us and put the rule on hold while the agency worked on finalizing it. The administration issued an essentially identical final rule, so we sued again, asking the court to block the final rule as well. The rule threatens the livelihoods of 200,000 truck drivers, bus drivers, and delivery drivers. It will also hurt countless businesses, both large and small — as well as schools and potentially millions of American consumers — that depend on these drivers. Again, these are people who are legally authorized to work here.

WHERE THINGS STAND: We will be arguing this case next week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

LAWSUIT #32 — ILLEGAL “TRUMP GOLD CARD” VISA

DATE FILED: February 3, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To stop a scheme that would let people get visas intended for those with specialized knowledge or skills by making a “gift” of $1,000,000 to the Trump regime.

BACKGROUND: In 1990, Congress passed a law that sets aside a limited number of visas (official permission to live and work here) for people with “extraordinary” or “exceptional” abilities in areas like science, arts, business, and sports. These are sometimes called “Einstein visas” — in reference to the renowned physicist Albert Einstein — to highlight the type of person who is eligible. But the Trump administration, in flagrant violation of that law, has launched a program that lets people buy these visas with a “gift” of $1,000,000 to the U.S. government. The administration is calling it the “Trump Gold Card.” To recap, the Trump regime is waging a campaign of terror against people in America who are from — or who look or sound like they could be from — another country. But if you can give Trump’s government a million dollars, the regime will welcome you with open arms (or at least open pockets). Our lawsuit calls out this perversion of immigration law and asks a federal court to declare it illegal.

WHERE THINGS STAND: The administration asked the judge to dismiss the case. In August, we filed our response opposing that request. Now we are waiting for the judge to rule.

LAWSUIT #31 — REGIME’S SECRET DEALS WITH BIG PHARMA

DATE FILED: January 27, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To force the administration to reveal details of its agreements with pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Eli Lilly.

BACKGROUND: In the fall of 2025, Trump announced that his administration had negotiated “most favored nation” pricing with pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Eli Lilly. But the regime and the companies are keeping the agreements secret. Maybe the deals will actually help everyday Americans afford essential medicines. Or maybe the deals just benefit corporate executives and assorted Trump officials. Public Citizen — under the Freedom of Information Act — called for the administration to release the agreements. It did not, so we sued.

WHERE THINGS STAND: Success! After we sued, the administration began releasing some of the requested documents. We are continuing to litigate the case.

LAWSUIT #30 — HIDING WHO GETS TO MEET WITH KEY TRUMP OFFICIALS

DATE FILED: January 5, 2026

WHY WE SUED: To make the administration disclose the names of people who got meetings with Trump’s Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick.

BACKGROUND: We represent a client who filed a Freedom of Information Act request in September of 2025 for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s calendar. The administration estimated that it would not respond until June of 2028 — almost three years later. We sued to force the regime to provide the information more promptly.

WHERE THINGS STAND: Success! After we sued, the administration began releasing the requested documents.

LAWSUIT #29 — TRUMP’S GILDED BALLROOM

DATE FILED: December 22, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To force the administration to release records related to the construction of a gilded ballroom where the East Wing of the White House stood until Trump had it demolished.

BACKGROUND: In October of 2025, Trump had the entire East Wing of the White House demolished. In its place, he intends to erect a humongous gilded ballroom — the estimated cost of which was initially $200 million, then $300 million, and now $400 million. All so Trump can curry favor with billionaire CEOs and try to impress the authoritarian foreign leaders he longs to emulate. Two days after demolition of the East Wing began, Public Citizen — under the Freedom of Information Act — called for the administration to release the contract for the construction of the ballroom. In defiance of the law, Trump officials have refused to do so. So we took them to court.

WHERE THINGS STAND: Success! In response to our lawsuit, the administration released the contract.

LAWSUIT #28 — MAGA’S WAR ON DIVERSITY

DATE FILED: December 22, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To make the regime reveal what it said when it tried to bully large law firms into abandoning efforts at making their workplaces more diverse, equitable, and inclusive.

BACKGROUND: Early in Trump’s second term, his administration sent letters to 20 major law firms about their diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. (Attacking “DEI” is of course a pillar of the grievance politics that animate Trump and his base.) Four of the firms subsequently signed settlement agreements with the regime. After the deadline for the administration’s response to our Freedom of Information Act request passed, we sued.

WHERE THINGS STAND: Success! After we sued, the administration released some of the requested documents but has withheld many others. We are continuing to litigate the case.

LAWSUIT #27 — CLEAN, AFFORDABLE ENERGY

DATE FILED: December 18, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To block a new rule the regime is trying to impose that would illegally and unfairly disadvantage wind and solar projects that should qualify for federal tax credits.

BACKGROUND: Congress wanted to encourage investment in new, cleaner power generation without favoring any one technology. By weaponizing the tax code to wage war on wind and solar energy projects, the Trump regime will cause electric bills to rise, workers to lose their jobs, and older, dirtier power plants to spew more pollution into our air.

WHERE THINGS STAND: We won! The court granted our motion for summary judgment (meaning it issued a final ruling in our favor) and said the administration could not implement the new rule.

LAWSUIT #26 — CONSUMER PROTECTION

DATE FILED: December 5, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To stop Trump from defunding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

BACKGROUND: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was established after the 2008 financial crisis to keep everyday Americans from getting ripped off by Big Banks. (Public Citizen played a major role in creating the CFPB.) Trump put one of his top lieutenants, Russell Vought — a primary architect of the infamous Project 2025 manifesto — in charge of the Bureau. In November of 2025, Vought announced that he would not request funding for the CFPB from the Federal Reserve, despite a legal requirement to do so.

WHERE THINGS STAND: We won! The judge ruled in our favor and ordered that funding be requested as required by law. The administration later appealed, but the judge’s order remains in effect — and the administration has complied with it — while the appeal is pending.

LAWSUIT #25 — STUDENT LOANS

DATE FILED: November 4, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To prevent the administration from denying student loan forgiveness to borrowers just because the regime doesn’t like the kind of work they do.

BACKGROUND: In 2007, Congress created the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to help people who go into public service work, including: public school teachers, first responders, social workers, military personnel, librarians, government workers, people who work at homeless shelters and food banks, nurses and other employees at nonprofit hospitals, people who provide services to survivors of domestic violence, and many other kinds of workers. Under Trump’s Education Secretary — the billionaire former professional wrestling magnate Linda McMahon — the administration has decided to deny public service loan forgiveness to borrowers whose work it just doesn’t like.

WHERE THINGS STAND: We won! The court issued a final ruling in our favor. (The administration has appealed.)

LAWSUIT #24 — EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION

DATE FILED: October 20, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To block a directive telling staff at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to ignore an entire category of civil rights violations.

BACKGROUND: An employment practice that negatively affects some people more than others because of traits like race, sex, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or disability is a form of discrimination known as “disparate impact.” Under Trump, staff at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have been ordered to stop investigating disparate impact claims.

WHERE THINGS STAND: The judge dismissed the case, ruling that our client was not qualified to sue, but not addressing whether the administration is acting lawfully.

LAWSUIT #23 — DEFENDING IMMIGRANT WORKERS

DATE FILED: October 20, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To challenge an “interim” rule from Trump’s Department of Transportation that prohibits asylum seekers, refugees, and DACA recipients — individuals who are legally authorized to work in the United States — from getting or renewing commercial driver’s licenses.

BACKGROUND: The interim rule was based solely on the immigration status of the workers. The agency offered no evidence of a safety issue or any other rational basis for barring people who have passed the written and road tests, and who have legal work authorization, from working as drivers. The administration put the rule into effect immediately, with no advance notice, directly threatening the livelihoods of 200,000 truck drivers, bus drivers, and delivery drivers. The rule will also hurt countless businesses, both large and small — as well as schools and potentially millions of American consumers — that depend on these drivers.

WHERE THINGS STAND: The court granted our motion asking it to put the rule on hold while the agency worked on a final rule. After the administration issued the final rule, the court agreed to hold this case while our challenge to the final rule proceeds.

LAWSUIT #22 — FREE SPEECH FOR FEDERAL WORKERS

DATE FILED: October 3, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To stop the administration from violating the First Amendment rights of federal workers.

BACKGROUND: With the government shutdown, hundreds of thousands of government employees set up “out-of-office” emails before being furloughed. But at Trump’s Department of Education — run by the billionaire former professional wrestling magnate Linda McMahon — these emails were replaced with a partisan message blaming “Democrat Senators” for the shutdown. That change was made without the employees’ consent and without notice that partisan messages were being sent in their names. In essence, they were being forced to make a political statement, whether they agreed with it or not.

WHERE THINGS STAND: We won! The court ordered the Department of Education to remove the partisan messages from the employees’ emails.

LAWSUIT #21 — HEALTH RESEARCH

DATE FILED: August 21, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To restore health research grants from a critical agency within the Department of Health and Human Services.

BACKGROUND: In 1999, Congress established the Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to support research into how America’s health system works, how to support patients and clinicians in choosing the best care, how to improve health by improving healthcare delivery, and more. Under the “leadership” of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., HHS has destroyed AHRQ’s capacity to process grant applications, withheld decisions on pending grant applications, and refused to spend appropriated funds.

WHERE THINGS STAND: The court ordered HHS to hold onto the funds it refused to spend — rather than return those funds to the Treasury Department — so that the funding will remain available to be spent if we win the case. The court recently granted our request to amend our original legal filing to reflect events of the past year.

LAWSUIT #20 — JOB CORPS PROGRAM

DATE FILED: June 18, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To prevent the administration from closing Job Corps centers all across the country and shutting down the Job Corps program.

BACKGROUND: Congress created the Job Corps program in 1964 to provide vocational and academic training to low-income young people. The program has continued with ongoing bipartisan support in Congress — even when Richard Nixon wanted to shrink it and Ronald Reagan wanted to eliminate it altogether. But in early 2025, the Trump regime — in flagrant defiance of the law — tried to suspend the program and close all 99 Job Corps centers nationwide. Public Citizen, with Southern Poverty Law Center as co-counsel, filed a lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful attempt to close the Job Corps centers.

WHERE THINGS STAND: We won! In August, the administration agreed to rescind its directive to shutter the 99 Job Corps centers around the country.

LAWSUIT #19 — HUNGER IN AMERICA

DATE FILED: June 10, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To stop the regime from shutting down the National Hunger Clearinghouse and hotline.

BACKGROUND: For more than 30 years, Congress has required the U.S. Department of Agriculture to contract with a nonprofit organization to serve as an information clearinghouse for food assistance resources. Hunger Free America has held that contract since 2014, helping tens of thousands of individuals and families access food banks, soup kitchens, and government programs. But in May — with no explanation or warning — the Trump administration terminated the current contract and took no action to find another nonprofit to maintain the clearinghouse.

WHERE THINGS STAND: Success! In response to our lawsuit, the administration complied with the law and awarded the contract to our client.

LAWSUIT #18 — CONSUMER PROTECTION

DATE FILED: May 21, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To block Trump’s unlawful firing of members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

BACKGROUND: The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) 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 illegally attempted to terminate three CPSC commissioners whose terms are not complete.

WHERE THINGS STAND: The district court ruled in our favor, but the administration appealed. The Supreme Court later issued a ruling in a different case that overturned a 90-year-old precedent and will require reversal of our victory in this case.

LAWSUIT #17 — WORKER HEALTH AND SAFETY

DATE FILED: May 14, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To preserve the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

BACKGROUND: The Trump regime has been quietly dismantling the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which protects workers in high-risk industries like mining, firefighting, construction, and healthcare. Under Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “leadership” at the Department of Health and Human Services, where NIOSH is housed, the majority of its staff have been fired, slated for termination, or otherwise forced out. As a result, workers throughout the country who otherwise would have been safe will get sick, hurt, and killed on the job.

WHERE THINGS STAND: Success! After we sued, NIOSH rehired its staff. We then dismissed our case.

LAWSUIT #16 — HUMAN RIGHTS

DATE FILED: April 24, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To prevent the administration from shutting down offices within the Department of Homeland Security that safeguard civil rights.

BACKGROUND: Congress has created three offices within the Department of Homeland Security to make sure DHS respects civil rights and civil liberties, to help immigrants who experience problems dealing with department bureaucracy, and to monitor conditions in detention facilities. In March, DHS — under the “leadership” of Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary and self-professed dog killer Kristi Noem — announced its intention to close all three of these oversight offices and fire nearly all of their employees.

WHERE THINGS STAND: We are waiting for the court to rule on a motion asking for a final ruling in our favor.

LAWSUIT #15 — TRANSPARENCY ABOUT DISMANTLING OF USAID

DATE FILED: April 22, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To make the administration disclose records related to its purge of programs and employees at USAID.

BACKGROUND: The Trump regime has essentially dissolved the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in clear disregard for the law and the Constitution. We are suing the administration over its refusal to respond to our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for records related to its dismantling of USAID.

WHERE THINGS STAND: Success! After we sued, the administration released some of the requested documents but withheld many others. We are continuing to litigate the case.

LAWSUIT #14 — DOING FISHY THINGS WITH EMAIL

DATE FILED: April 17, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To compel disclosure of information about the administration trying to monitor emails among nonprofit groups, monitoring the speech of government personnel, and giving outside actors access to official government email accounts.

BACKGROUND: Trump’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) was reportedly doing some unusual (to put it mildly) things with email — including signing up for listservs nonprofit organizations use to communicate with one another, monitoring the communications of untold numbers of government employees, and letting people outside of the government into official OPM email accounts. After the administration failed to respond to our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for records related to these actions, we sued to force disclosure.

WHERE THINGS STAND: After we sued, the administration released some of the requested documents but withheld others. We are continuing to litigate the case.

LAWSUIT #13 — OUTSOURCING GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS

DATE FILED: April 17, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To force the administration to release records about using non-governmental third parties for official government communications.

BACKGROUND: We sued Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for its refusal to respond to our Freedom of Information Act request for records related to HUD’s use of non-governmental entities to conduct official government communications.

WHERE THINGS STAND: Success! After we sued, the administration released the requested documents.

LAWSUIT #12 — WORKER RIGHTS AROUND THE WORLD

DATE FILED: April 15, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To reverse the administration’s abrupt and unlawful cancellation of critical international labor rights programs.

BACKGROUND: The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) protects workers and businesses in the United States from unfair competition by 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 regime terminated all of ILAB’s cooperative agreements, with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) being run by Elon Musk insisting that the administration would not spend funds Congress specifically appropriated to combat unfair labor practices and to support workers’ rights abroad.

WHERE THINGS STAND: The two sides are discussing a settlement in the case.

LAWSUIT #11 — CLIMATE CHANGE & ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

DATE FILED: April 14, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To restore key environmental data the regime scrubbed from various government websites.

BACKGROUND: Shortly after the Trump regime took over in January, it started removing interactive pages related to climate change and environmental justice from the taxpayer-funded websites of various agencies — including the Department of Energy, the Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. We filed suit on behalf of the Sierra Club, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and others.

WHERE THINGS STAND: The court dismissed the case, ruling that our clients lacked standing.

LAWSUIT #10 — GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY

DATE FILED: April 8, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To stop the administration from keeping its decisions about how to spend taxpayer dollars secret.

BACKGROUND: Trump put a man named Russell Vought — a primary architect of the infamous Project 2025 manifesto — in charge of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). By law, OMB is required to publicly post information, on something called the Public Apportionments Database, about the funds allocated to each federal agency. But under Vought’s leadership and in clear violation of the law, OMB took that database offline and told Congress it would stop maintaining the database altogether. The Public Apportionments Database is an invaluable resource for monitoring how the government spends taxpayer money — including whether the administration is flouting Congress’ constitutional authority over government spending (the “power of the purse”).

WHERE THINGS STAND: We won! In response to our lawsuit, the court ordered the administration to restore the apportionments database while the case proceeds. Although OMB has appealed, the information is currently back online.

LAWSUIT #9 — EDUCATION IN AMERICA

DATE FILED: April 4, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To challenge the regime’s dismantling of the Institute of Education Sciences.

BACKGROUND: The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is a semi-independent division within the Department of Education that conducts, supports, and disseminates high-quality, evidence-based research about education in America. In February, the Department of Education — run by the billionaire former professional wrestling magnate 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.

WHERE THINGS STAND: After we sued, the administration announced that it would not cancel access to a key research database as it had planned to do. Both sides then asked the court to issue a final ruling on the rest of the claims in this case.

LAWSUIT #8 — TAXPAYER PRIVACY

DATE FILED: March 7, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To prevent the IRS from illegally sharing taxpayer data with DHS and ICE.

BACKGROUND: Like other workers, undocumented workers are required to pay income taxes. The Internal Revenue Service 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 — specifically the Department of Homeland Security along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement — wants to access tax data 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.

WHERE THINGS STAND: Accepting the administration’s claim that it would share such information only for use in criminal investigations, the judge denied our motion for a preliminary injunction. The appeals court upheld that ruling, and the case is back in the district court where it is on hold while the court of appeals decides a related case.

LAWSUIT #7 — CONSUMER PROTECTION

DATE FILED: February 13, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To stop the administration from eliminating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

BACKGROUND: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was established after the 2008 financial crisis to keep everyday Americans from getting ripped off by Big Banks. (Public Citizen played a major role in creating the CFPB.) Trump has openly declared his intent to “totally eliminate” the CFPB, and he put one of his top lieutenants — Russell Vought, a primary architect of the infamous Project 2025 manifesto — in charge of the Bureau. But 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. That hasn’t stopped Vought from trying to fire the vast majority of CFPB employees, among other schemes to shut the Bureau down.

WHERE THINGS STAND: The judge granted our motion for a preliminary injunction blocking Vought from summarily firing CFPB staff and cancelling CFPB contracts while the case proceeds. The administration’s appeal is pending. We later withdrew as co-counsel in this case to focus on Lawsuit #26 (above).

LAWSUIT #6 — FOREIGN AID

DATE FILED: February 10, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To block Trump’s illegal and inhumane foreign aid freeze.

BACKGROUND: On his very first day back in office, Trump issued an executive order directing agencies to freeze foreign assistance that supports humanitarian efforts worldwide, including $4 billion that was supposed to be spent by the end of September, 2025. The administration then froze, and later terminated, a large swath of grants for foreign assistance work. 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.

WHERE THINGS STAND: In February of 2025, the court ordered the government to pay all the grantees’ invoices for work they had already done. In early September of 2025, we won a preliminary injunction in the lower court requiring the administration to spend appropriated funds before the end of that month. The Supreme Court stepped in and allowed the administration to impound (meaning not spend) about $4 billion. The case is currently on hold while the court of appeals considers other cases that raise similar legal issues.

LAWSUIT #5 — GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY

DATE FILED: February 7, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To keep “DOGE” out of the Department of Education

BACKGROUND: Operatives from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) being run by Elon Musk infiltrated Department of Education databases that include financial information of thousands of student-loan applicants and their families.

WHERE THINGS STAND: After the court indicated in a preliminary ruling that our clients could not show harm needed to pursue the case, we closed the case voluntarily.

LAWSUIT #4 — GLOBAL HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

DATE FILED: February 6, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To preserve the U.S. Agency for International Development.

BACKGROUND: 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.

WHERE THINGS STAND: We initially won a temporary restraining order to stop Trump from carrying out this global humanitarian nightmare. But the judge later lifted it, allowing the regime to terminate the majority of USAID’s employees, and granted the administration’s motion to dismiss the case. We appealed that ruling and are waiting for the court to rule.

LAWSUIT #3 — PUBLIC HEALTH

DATE FILED: February 4, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To restore critical health information the regime deleted from government websites.

BACKGROUND: Based on a directive from the administration to scrub information related to gender or “DEI” from government websites, essential public health agencies — like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — removed vital information that doctors and researchers all across the country were using to treat patients, monitor diseases, advance medical discoveries, and save lives. In some instances, information that had been publicly available going back to the 1990s had vanished.

WHERE THINGS STAND: We won! The court issued a final ruling in our favor, requiring the agencies to restore the deleted information, which they did.

LAWSUIT #2 — FINANCIAL PRIVACY

DATE FILED: February 3, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To limit “DOGE” infiltration of the Treasury Department.

BACKGROUND: 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 operatives from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) being run by Elon Musk access to the data.

WHERE THINGS STAND: The court granted the administration’s motion to dismiss the case.

LAWSUIT #1 — “DOGE” WAS ILLEGALLY STRUCTURED

DATE FILED: January 20, 2025

WHY WE SUED: To prevent “DOGE” from operating in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

BACKGROUND: Within literally one minute of Trump taking office on January 20, Public Citizen filed suit in federal court alleging that the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) being run by Elon Musk was not in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, a law that 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.

WHERE THINGS STAND: With DOGE mutating into something other than an advisory committee, we voluntarily closed this case.

We know that was a lot. So how about a recap of the recap?

In 24 cases, we have already either won the case outright, won a preliminary ruling that limited or delayed a destructive thing the administration was doing or wanted to do, or forced the regime to reveal information it was unlawfully trying to keep from the American people. And — in terms of what we noted above about the pace at which these kinds of cases tend to make their way through the courts — it’s still early.

We fully expect even more progress in these lawsuits. Given the powerful forces and legal realities we’re up against, this is something that everyone who supports Public Citizen can and should take pride in.

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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