In the 59 weeks since Donald Trump returned to power, the Washington-based consumer advocacy group Public Citizen has filed 35 lawsuits challenging actions by the administration.
The nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, founded by Ralph Nader in 1971, said in a Feb. 25 email to subscribers that in 12 of those 35 cases, it has “either won the case outright, gotten a preliminary ruling that limits whatever bad thing the regime is trying to do, or forced the administration to reveal information.”
They’ve filed five kinds of cases.
The largest amount of Public Citizen’s cases filed are for the purpose of forcing the federal government to release information under the Freedom of Information Act. Examples include secret pharmaceutical pricing deals and White House ballroom construction records.
In these cases, the group effectively acts as not just litigants, but as a watchdog forcing disclosure.
Another category challenges executive branch actions that violate existing laws passed by Congress. Examples include withholding health research funding and attempting to close the Job Corps.
Some cases defend constitutional rights or workplace protections, such as First Amendment rights of federal employees and immigrant workers and driver’s licenses.
Historically, Public Citizen originally grew out of consumer advocacy and still shows cases that focus on protecting consumers from corporate or financial abuse. For example, taxpayer privacy and financial data protection.
Other cases challenge policies affecting immigration or humanitarian aid, as with Trump’s “Gold Card” a plan that includes a route to permanent U.S. residency and bypasses traditional criteria for those with specialized knowledge or skills by allowing foreign applicants to qualify by donating 1 million and $2 million dollar payments to the U.S. Treasury.
And Public Citizen is not the only organization filing suit against Trump’s “Gold Card” strategy.
According to Bloomberg Law, the program violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act, and was enacted without statutory authority, the American Association of University Professors argued in a complaint filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
How does Public Citizen do it? Where do they get their funding? Why are they so successful?
The organization operates through a coordinated strategy that combines legal action, research, and political advocacy.
According to its history in their 2016 book “Public Citizen: The Sentinel of Democracy” the group was designed to apply pressure wherever decisions affecting the public are made—from the courts to federal agencies to Congress.
If a reform effort stalls in one arena, advocates move the fight elsewhere.
The group’s litigation work is carried out by experienced public-interest lawyers and policy specialists recruited to challenge corporate and government power through the courts.
The book argues that it preserves the ability to challenge powerful institutions by refusing to “Accept funding from the government or from any corporation, so its ability to challenge power remains uncompromised.”
Their core funding source is direct-mail membership campaigns, but they also receive foundation grants, sales of their publications and reports, and awards from class-action lawsuit settlements.
Founder Ralph Nader argued in a 1997 article in Public Citizen News that the organization must fight on every front:
“If corporations can lobby Congress, Public Citizen can lobby Congress. If they can attack the safety regulatory agencies, Public Citizen can challenge those attacks. If they can use the courts, Public Citizen can use the courts. If they’re going to use the media or if they control the media, Public Citizen will use the media.”
