Democracy Forward Sign Up Information

Hi there, friend—

Welcome to our inaugural newsletter! Here at Democracy Forward, we want to keep you up to date on our ongoing fight to hold the Trump administration accountable for corrupt and unlawful actions that hurt people.

Expect to find fresh DF updates every month, alternating with our Behind the Scenes series. Now, onto the new stuff...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has unlawfully created and operated a “Commission on Unalienable Rights” in the State Department. He’s stacked this advisory panel with conservative academics, including some who have articulated fringe beliefs like homosexuality being “one of the signs of the End Times,” to the exclusion of established human rights organizations. And he’s also failed to release key documents the public has a right to see.

Unfortunately for Sec. Pompeo, his Commission violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act — which requires that groups convened to advise agencies maintain a balanced membership, demonstrate that their existence is in the public interest, and operate transparently.

So, we’re representing Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, CHANGE (the Center for Health and Gender Equity), the Council for Global Equality, and the Global Justice Center in suing Pompeo and the State Department. We recently advanced our case in federal court ahead of the expected release of the Commission’s report by July 4th. 

Our suit has been supported through a “friend of the court” brief filed by a coalition of human rights organizations that includes Human Rights Watch, the Human Rights Campaign, and the Center for Reproductive Rights, among others!

These filings come on the heels of Trump’s Executive Order on Advancing International Religious Freedom, which aims to direct funding to conservative religious organizations and help disseminate their views as part of U.S. foreign policy.

And just last week, the State Department announced amid our suit that they''ll open a public comment period for the upcoming report (but still didn''t tell us when or for how long this will happen, or even if they''ll consider comments they receive).

We’re keeping an eye out for the Commission’s report next week, so be sure to follow us for the latest updates.

Learn more about this case!
Read the announcement.
Check out our case in the New York Times: Pompeo’s Human Rights Panel Could Hurt L.G.B.T. and Women’s Rights, Critics Say

Trump’s attempt to rescind DACA was right out in the open, but internal Department of Housing and Urban Development records we obtained in litigation found that HUD secretly made policy changes to leave DACA recipients ineligible for federally backed, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) home loans. And appointees gave misleading answers to Congress when asked about the policy change.

The unacknowledged, unlawful decision to deny DACA recipients FHA loan eligibility, after years of them receiving that benefit, was a huge administrative shift that shut many DACA recipients out of an American dream and created uncertainty in the home mortgage market for lenders. 

This is what happens when the Trump admin’s disregard for people of color and inability to govern collide, creating an administrative trainwreck. It’s called structural discrimination, and we’re demanding an investigation.

HUD career staff expressed frustration that senior leadership would not “post the freaking DACA FAQ,” which would have made the Department’s policy clear and public, and made it accountable for its own actions.

We submitted over 150 pages of internal HUD records to the Inspector General with a demand for an investigation. And after reviewing the documents, members of the House and the Senate have requested investigations into HUD’s actions.

We’ll keep you posted when we hear back.

Learn more about this case!
Read the announcement.
Check out our action in Buzzfeed News: The Trump Administration Said It Didn’t Change Policy To Deny Housing Loans To DACA Recipients. Emails Show Otherwise.

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The Affordable Care Act and its regulations require the Department of Health and Human Services to open a special enrollment period when consumers face “exceptional circumstances,” including a once-in-a-century pandemic like COVID-19.

But the Trump administration has refused to open one — despite calls from a diverse and bipartisan group of stakeholders to do so — because of President Trump’s personal opposition to the ACA. HHS has failed to provide a cogent rationale for its decision not to open a special enrollment period in light of the unprecedented public health crisis.

The administration’s refusal to reopen enrollment is consistent with Trump’s and his administration’s efforts to sabotage the ACA. His administration is urging the Supreme Court to invalidate the law. It has promoted junk insurance plans, sought to reduce enrollment numbers by cutting funding for open enrollment advertising and outreach, and repeatedly shortened the annual enrollment period.

Even worse, Trump’s decision forces municipalities like Chicago to bear the financial and human costs of providing certain public health services to its uninsured citizens. More than 50,000 Chicagoans have been infected with COVID-19, and 500,000 Chicagoans have lost their jobs because of the crisis.

While the City of Chicago runs specific kinds of health clinics and provides ambulance services to all of its residents, it often cannot recoup those costs when patients are not covered — meaning that the Trump administration’s decision imposes additional financial strain when the City is already being hit hard. And the administration’s decision exacerbates the spread of COVID-19 by deterring individuals from seeking testing and treatment.

We filed suit to ensure the Trump administration follows the law and opens a special enrollment period in response to COVID-19. We’ve already received friend-of-the-court briefs from the U.S. House of Representatives and fourteen states led by California and Michigan!

And if you care about the ACA, check out our lawsuit on behalf of five cities and two residents of Charlottesville, Virginia challenging the Trump administration’s wholesale sabotage of the ACA.

Learn more about this case!
Read the announcement.
Check out our case in The Washington Post: Chicago sues Trump administration officials over their refusal to extend ACA enrollment
And take a listen to our very own Communications Director Charisma Troiano on Make It Plain with Mark Thompson!

Filed 11 new legal actions:

• Stopping the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency from unlawfully eviscerating vital anti-redlining rules under the Community Reinvestment Act after demanding records the Trump admin withheld.
• Opposing the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s secretive Federal Consumer Finance Law Taskforce in court after exposing its unlawful operation and anti-consumer membership.
• Challenging the Trump administration’s unlawful refusal to open a COVID-19 special enrollment period for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
• Demanding the president release a required war powers transparency report.
• Representing a class of student borrowers against Betsy DeVos and Steven Mnuchin for illegal seizures of federal tax refunds in violation of the CARES Act.
• Uncovering the role of Trump’s “Housing Fourth” homelessness policy czar.
• Investigating lack of Paycheck Protection Program loan guidance.
• Demanding an investigation into HUD for revoking DACA FHA-loan eligibility.
• Calling for investigation into DHS leaking citizenship status to right-wing media outlets.

• Our complete victory on school lunch nutrition in CSPI & Healthy School Food Maryland v. USDA.
• The court’s ruling that OMB’s appeal from our equal pay victory in National Women’s Law Center v. OMB is moot.
• Our win against the cigar and e-cig industry’s appeal in American Academy of Pediatrics, et al. v. FDA.
• An Interior Department’s Inspector General report concluding that an unnamed Trump political violated his ethics pledge that lines up with our investigation request last year re. Stephen Wackowski.
• An amicus brief from the U.S. House of Representatives and an amicus from 14 state attorney generals supporting Chicago v. Azar et al.
• Our brief and a supporting amicus brief from human rights orgs in Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights et al v. Pompeo. 
• A motion and two amicus briefs from the House and a dozen immigration law professors and scholars in Baltimore v. Trump.
• Our reply in American Oversight v. Pompeo to recover 2017 interpreter notes between Trump and Putin.
• An appeal brief and new GAO report in VoteVets v. Department of Veteran Affairs.
• Our reply in Oracle v. Department of Labor.

Challenging USCIS, DHS for abruptly obstructing a pathway for Temporary Protected Status immigrants to become permanent residents

TPS Beneficiaries, Central American Resource Center v. Cuccinelli

What did the Trump admin do? In December 2019, the illegally appointed then-Acting Director of USCIS, Ken Cuccinelli, abruptly ended a longstanding USCIS practice that had allowed Temporary Protected Status recipients a path to become a permanent resident. 

Who is it harming? There are more than 400,000 TPS beneficiaries living in the United States, many with U.S. citizen family members and deep community ties. Under the unlawful change, those who have an old removal order - potentially tens of thousands of individuals - can no longer satisfy eligibility requirements for adjustment of status and have effectively become barred from becoming a permanent resident.

What we're doing: We took Cuccinelli back to court, this time on behalf of seven individuals and the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), for unlawfully impeding TPS beneficiaries' pathway to permanent residency. 

This disruptive change was issued by USCIS without any advance notice or opportunity for public input, without explanation, and in violation of federal law. Not to mention, since a court ruled Cuccinelli's appointment violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, he "lacked authority" to authorize the change.  

In the news - CNN | Lawsuit challenges Trump administration policy making it more difficult to get Green Cards

"Advocate groups are challenging in federal court a Trump administration policy that makes it difficult for certain migrants to obtain Green Cards in the United States, as well as the appointment of Ken Cuccinelli, who oversaw the change."

Read the case page ?

Fighting the Trump admin's refusal to count vulnerable American Indian/Alaska Native and LGBTQ+ youth in foster care 

California Tribal Families Coalition et al. v. Azar

What did the Trump admin do? In May, the Dept. of Health and Human Services unlawfully rescinded requirements for child welfare agencies to report crucial data about marginalized foster youth and parents - upending over a decade of work that led to a widely supported 2016 update of the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS).

Who is it harming? By eviscerating the 2016 AFCARS rule, the Trump administration has turned its back on serving American Indian/Alaska Native and LGBTQ+ foster youth and families. 

Without comprehensive AFCARS data, the government, child welfare agencies, and organizations serving foster youth will be unable to have the full and accurate picture needed to improve outcomes for marginalized youth in the U.S. foster care system.

What we're doing: On behalf of a California-based coalition of tribes, two federally recognized Indian tribes, a foster youth alumni group, and three organizations that work with LGBTQ+ youth in foster care, we're suing the Trump administration for violating the Administrative Procedure Act when rescinding the AFCARS rule.

In the news - Newsy | Lawsuit Seeks Better Tracking of Native American Kids in Foster Care

Read the case page ?

Demanding NOAA resume an abruptly and unjustifiably stalled inquiry regarding political interference by Trump appointees

• In March, we requested the Department of Commerce Inspector General and NOAA Scientific Integrity Committee investigate reporting that Trump appointees unlawfully altered conservation measures aimed at protecting  the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.
• There are only 400 of these whales left - the last of their kind in the wild. But political appointees in NOAA allegedly permitted seismic airgun blasting, which directly harms the whales' hearing, in a manner contrary to the advice of career scientists. 
• Whale, whale, whale. After telling us in April that an inquiry would be opened - triggering a 90-day deadline to respond - NOAA's Scientific Integrity Committee changed course days after the July deadline, placing our inquiry "on hold."
• We are pushing back with a letter to request the inquiry continue. NOAA must release its inquiry report for the public, for scientific integrity, and for the whales ?? ?

 Trump admin retreats from the legal battle we won against Cuccinelli 

• The Trump administration dismissed its appeal of a federal court's March ruling that Ken Cuccinelli was illegally appointed as Acting Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
• The government's dismissal came mere hours before news dropped that the Government Accountability Office separately concluded that both Ken Cuccinelli and Chad Wolf were illegally appointed to their current roles at DHS.
• It's been clear from the start: Ken Cuccinelli was unlawfully appointed to lead USCIS. The Trump administration retreated from its legal fight because the law is not on its side. 
• This is a victory for the rule of law and for the asylum seekers and immigrants hurt by the administration's harmful policies. Learn more on our case page ?

Cities of Columbus, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Chicago, Philadelphia & individuals detail harms caused by Trump admin's illegal ACA sabotage

• Amidst this devastating pandemic, five U.S. cities and two individuals who rely on the individual health insurance marketplace filed a motion for summary judgment in our lawsuit against the Trump administration over its unlawful attempts to sabotage the Affordable Care Act.
• Our challenge to Trump's ACA sabotage efforts was first filed in 2018  -  we're opposing the illegal, arbitrary, and capricious policies implemented by the administration to undermine the success of the ACA (long before the current public health crisis).
• The administration's unlawful efforts to sabotage the ACA drive up premiums, make enrollment more difficult, and cause more people to go without affordable, high-quality insurance. You can read our full rundown on the unlawful policies harming the cities here.
• Trump's persistent efforts to sabotage the Affordable Care Act are a clear attempt at death by a thousand cuts. Learn more ?

ICYMI: We're continuing our fight against the Trump admin's invite for federal grantees to use $500 billion in grant funds to discriminate 

• Earlier this week, we filed our opposition to the government's attempt to dismiss our case.
• We've been suing Trump's HHS on behalf of Family Equality, True Colors United, and SAGE for allowing federal grant recipients to deny individuals critical services on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
• In line with its pattern of abandoning the LGBTQ+ community, the Trump administration is trying to shut down our lawsuit while HHS finalizes a permanent rule designed to eviscerate non-discrimination protections altogether.
• Our plaintiffs have standing to sue and you bet we'll continue to do so. As always, learn more here ?

How Men's Rights Groups Helped Rewrite Regulations on Campus Rape

The Nation | H?l?ne Barth?lemy

"In July 2017, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos held a summit on Title IX, the 1972 federal statute that bans discrimination on the basis of sex at universities. 

"Nearly 3,000 pages of e-mails obtained by the anti-corruption organization Democracy Forward through a Freedom of Information Act request and shared with The Nation reveal that the July 2017 meeting was part of a much deeper collaboration between the DOE and these men's rights groups."

Trump's Labor Chief Accused of Intervening in Oracle Pay Bias Case

New York Times | Noam Scheiber, David McCabe and Maggie Haberman

"A senior Labor Department lawyer contends she faces removal from her job after objecting to Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia's intervention in a pay discrimination case against Oracle, a tech giant with close White House connections.

"The discrimination case against Oracle arises from an enforcement action by the Labor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which monitors whether government contractors like Oracle are following federal anti-discrimination laws."

• We moved to intervene in Oracle's retaliatory suit against the agency - Oracle v. Department of Labor - on behalf of the Communication Workers of America and United Steelworkers. 
• Given the Trump admin's history of weakening anti-discrimination protections, there's substantial reason to believe that the administration will not vigorously defend the interests of workers and unions, as well as the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs's lawful enforcement authority.

The Man Determined to Deliver Trump's Alaskan Oil Promise

Politico Magazine | Adam Federman

"Though he's little known outside of Alaska, [Steve] Wackowski, a 38-year-old with connections to the oil and gas industry and no experience in federal land management, has played an outsize role in executing the administration's priorities. 

"By meeting with one of his former colleagues who works for a company that does polar bear surveys and sometimes provides data to FWS, Wackowski was found to have violated his ethics pledge, according to a recent investigation by the DOI inspector general. The report found that neither Wackowski nor the business benefited from the interaction and that Wackowski had acted under the mistaken belief that the communications were permissible." 

• Back in March 2019, we sent a letter to the Department of Interior's Deputy Inspector General requesting an investigation into whether Wackowski used his position to facilitate environmentally destructive seismic surveys benefitting his former business associates.
• The Inspector General released a report in June finding "no doubt" that an unnamed Trump appointee violated an ethics pledge by meeting with ex-business associates.
• While the subject of the investigation is anonymized, the facts relayed in the report are consistent with the facts and supporting documents we presented in our request last spring. 

Hi there, friend—

This is our second edition of The Brief, a monthly roundup of Democracy Forward’s latest work to hold the Trump administration accountable. We’ll be delivering to you news of our victories, newest filings, latest case updates, and resources to learn more.

Court rejects Trump admin’s refusal to search the private email account Commerce Sec. Wilbur Ross used for gov business

• In a victory for transparency and accountability, a federal judge ruled in our lawsuit that it was unreasonable for the Commerce Dept. to exclude Sec. Ross’s personal email account from the FOIA record search.
• This decision comes after Commerce dragged its feet for over two years. An official investigation by the National Archives and Records Administration was launched last year and is still ongoing.
• What comes next? We''ll be fighting to ensure Commerce complies with the Court''s order. In the meantime, make sure you’re subscribed for next month’s update and learn more about the long fight on our case page →

Trump admin calls COVID-19 special enrollment period for health insurance “unwarranted”

• In its first court filing responding to our lawsuit on behalf of the City of Chicago, the Trump administration told the court “current information does not establish that a COVID-19 Special Enrollment Period (SEP) is warranted.”
• This despite the fact that over 150k Americans have died from COVID-19, over 4.5 million have been infected, and millions have lost their health insurance.
• These court filings also reveal that a federal ACA special enrollment period was urgently requested by a diverse group — including health experts, insurers, providers, Democratic and Republican governors alike, members of Congress, and large employers. 
• One insurer noted: “The cost of delaying action and leaving people uninsured seems higher than any [...] risk from a SEP.”
• What comes next? We’ve filed our reply to the Trump administration’s arguments and expect their final response in a week. Follow us on Twitter for our latest updates and reactions or check the case page here →

Pompeo’s unlawful Commission releases its Report: an event that was dangerous in more ways than one

• On July 16th, Secretary Pompeo and the Commission on Unalienable Rights presented the culmination of its work at an in-person event at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
• The logistics of the meeting were not only absurd but unlawful. Pompeo and the Commission members traveled to another state amidst a pandemic essentially for a photo op. And then Pompeo’s speech was live-streamed (and extreme), but the Commission’s own “public meeting” that followed was in-person only.
• Pandemic aside, this glossy “draft” report is still the product of an unlawful process. When this email hits your inbox, the Commission’s report will have finished its two-week comment period on July 30th.
• It’s been reported that Pompeo has already started encouraging the State Department to use the released report as guidance (so much for the “draft” part).
• What comes next? Our fight in court on behalf of four human rights organizations continues; we’re awaiting a decision on our suit to ensure the Commission is shuttered and that the State Dept. cannot rely on its work. Learn more about this Commission on our case page →

P.S. Our new legal assistants started this month! We welcomed Sophie and Isabel to the team ??

Fighting DOL''s unlawful elimination of protections for victims of labor abuse and human trafficking
New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice v. Department of Labor

What did the Trump admin do? The Department of Labor unlawfully and abruptly upended a successful victim-protection visa program by unnecessarily requiring the involvement of criminal law enforcement agencies in the application certification process. Even worse, these changes apply to requests submitted in good faith based on the prior rule.

Who is it harming? Immigrant victims of abusive labor practices — such as forced labor, illegal wages, and human trafficking — relied on the U and T visa program to safely report workplace crimes to the Dept. of Labor.

Now, with the changes, undocumented workers fear speaking up and reporting crimes. Fewer reports hurt DOL’s enforcement against workplace crimes, jeopardizing the safety of all workers.

What we’re doing: We sued DOL for its arbitrary policy changes on behalf of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice. These changes are unlawful and harm workers, organizations that represent them, and the DOL’s own ability to protect workers from abuse.

In the News:

• Associated Press | Immigrant advocates say US policy change endangers workers
• Telemundo | Trabajadores de la industria de mariscos denuncian maltratos y exigen protecciones laborales

Read the case page →

Protecting vital coastal barrier habitats from Interior’s unlawful sand mining rule
National Audubon Society v. Bernhardt et al.

What did the Trump admin do? Interior Secretary David Bernhardt failed to follow rulemaking requirements when he announced a new rule to permit federally subsidized sand mining, in violation of the environmental protections of the Coastal Barrier Resources Act.

Who is it harming? Endangered wildlife who call these coastal barriers home and seaside communities that rely on the barriers’ natural buffer from hurricane storm surges. Nationwide, coastal wetlands provide more than $23 billion per year in storm protection.

What we’re doing: On behalf of the National Audubon Society, we took the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to court to overturn Sec. Bernhardt’s “Excavation Rule.”

Did you know? Bernhardt released the “Excavation Rule” only six days after three members of Congress asked for the change. If that sounds like unlawful rulemaking, it is.

Learn more: From our partner, Audubon, here’s the importance of coastal resilience and the CBRA’s role in protecting natural infrastructure.

Read the case page →

“What We Can Learn From Feminist Federal Credit Unions”
Cecilia Nowell | The Nation

Tl;dr — An important piece on the crucial need to address unequal access to credit and how our lawsuit with the California Reinvestment Coalition helped ensure the Trump administration follows the law on collecting data on banks'' record of lending to women, people of color, and small businesses.

And take a listen to our expert team on these podcasts —

• Robin Thurston, Senior Counsel, on REDIRECT breaking down our lawsuit challenging the Dept. of Labor’s abrupt upending of its visa certification program for immigrant workers who help investigate workplace crimes: Dodge Caravans, U-Visas, and Executive Order Bills

• Charisma Troiano, Communications Director, on Make it Plain with Mark Thompson discussing our lawsuit to shut down the Commission on Unalienable Rights: The Strike For Black Lives Is On! AND Democracy Forward Reacts To Pompeo''s "Unalienable Rights" Bull

ROBERT F. KENNEDY HUMAN RIGHTS ET AL V. POMPEO

On behalf of a coalition of human rights organizations, we sued Secretary Pompeo and the State Department for unlawfully creating and operating the Commission on Unalienable Rights, which has worked behind closed doors to redefine human rights and undercut protections for women and the LGBTQ+ community.

FAMILY EQUALITY, TRUE COLORS UNITED, SAGE V. AZAR, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

We sued to block the Trump administration from unlawfully abandoning nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ Americans and others in programs funded by HHS's $500 billion in grant programs.

COLUMBUS ET AL. V. TRUMP

A federal court allowed our lawsuit against the Trump administration for sabotaging the Affordable Care Act to move forward.

ORACLE V. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

We partnered with two major unions and filed a motion to intervene in a dangerous lawsuit brought by Oracle America that sought to axe the federal government's ability to ensure federal contractors comply with important protections against workplace discrimination.

SEEKING INVESTIGATION OF TRUMP DHS OFFICIALS FOR LEAKING PROTECTED PERSONAL INFORMATION TO FOX NEWS, BREITBART

After exposing that Trump's Department of Homeland Security was leaking the immigration status of people accused of crimes to anti-immigrant media outlets to promote the false and racist narrative that immigrants are likely to be criminals, we called for an investigation.

VOTEVETS V. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

We took our legal fight to the D.C. Circuit over the Trump administration's handover of Veterans Affairs policy to the "Mar-a-Lago Council," three associates of President Trump who unlawfully influenced VA policy on a sweeping range of issues.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CONSUMER ASSOCIATES ET AL. V. CONSUMER FINANCE PROTECTION BUREAU

We sued the CFPB for giving the financial services industry illegal influence over consumer protection policy.

DEMANDING INVESTIGATION INTO ILLEGAL & SECRET HUD POLICY DENYING FHA HOME LOANS TO DACA RECIPIENTS

After we uncovered that Trump's Dept. of Housing and Urban Development secretly created a policy to deny DACA recipients federal home loans (and gave Congress misleading answers about it!), we called for an investigation. Forty-five members of Congress followed up with the same request.

NATIONAL COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT COALITION, CALIFORNIA REINVESTMENT COALITION V. OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY

When the Trump administration gutted rules designed to combat redlining and ensure that banks meet the financial needs of the communities in which they do business, we filed suit.

NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY V. BERNHARDT ET AL.

We sued the Trump administration to prevent illegal federally funded sand mining in protected coastal areas that are home to many seabirds and protect communities from storm damage.

NEW ORLEANS WORKERS' CENTER FOR RACIAL JUSTICE V. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR ET AL.

After Trump's Labor Department eliminated protections for immigrant victims of workplace abuse and labor trafficking - discouraging vulnerable workers from reporting crimes and mistreatment - we took it to court.

TPS BENEFICIARIES, CENTRAL AMERICAN RESOURCE CENTER V. CUCCINELLI, WOLF, DHS

When Ken Cuccinelli unlawfully denied many Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries a means of applying for permanent residence in the U.S., while the Trump administration is, at the same time, working to terminate TPS altogether, we filed suit on behalf of seven TPS beneficiaries and a D.C.-based immigration justice group.

CALIFORNIA TRIBAL FAMILIES COALITION, ET AL. V. AZAR

After the administration rolled back rules requiring collection of data on how LGBTQ+ youth and American Indian and Alaska Native Children fare in foster care systems across the U.S., we took the Trump administration to court on behalf of a large and diverse coalition. (Watch our video on it here!)

WESTERN ORGANIZATION OF RESOURCE COUNCILS V. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

We sued to halt the work of a secretive coal council stacked with representatives from the fossil fuel industry until it complies with federal transparency requirements.

I.M. V. CBP, WOLF, ET AL.

On behalf of an unlawfully deported visa recipient, we took the Department of Homeland Security to court for unconstitutionally allowing unappointed border employees to deport immigrants.

CONSERVATION LAW FOUNDATION, SURFRIDER FOUNDATION V. BARR, DOJ, EPA ET AL.

We sued Trump's Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency for unlawfully preventing the use of an established enforcement tool where polluters pay for real-world projects that benefit the communities they've harmed.

Challenging DHS''s violation of the Constitution by using unappointed CBP agents to fast-track deportations

I.M. v. Wolf, CBP, et al.

What did the Trump admin do? More than 100,000 people are deported from the United States every year on the basis of expedited removal orders. In expedited removal, low-level DHS employees decide non-citizens'' rights and issue fast-track deportation orders that are largely unreviewable.

This power is a "significant authority" that, according to the Constitution's Appointment Clause, must be exercised by appointed officials. But the low-level DHS agents who issue expedited removal orders aren''t appointed at all. That''s plain unconstitutional.

Who's harmed? The Trump administration has expanded expedited removal, allowing CBP and ICE agents to issue those orders anywhere in the United States. That puts the lives of millions of people in the hands of unappointed and unaccountable DHS employees.

What we're doing: Alongside the National Immigrant Justice Center and Latham & Watkins, we filed a habeas corpus petition and complaint seeking to void our client's expedited removal order and reinstate his visa.

In the news - Law360 | Immigrant Sues Gov''t Over Removal By Low-Level Employees

"Friday''s petition urged the judge to reinstate I.M.''s visa and reverse his removal order... The National Immigrant Justice Center said in a statement that the executive branch is abusing its power and upending many immigrants'' lives. 'The Trump administration''s unlawful tactics to prevent immigrants and travelers from entering the United States, including expanding expedited removal nationwide, have separated thousands of families and put livelihoods at risk,' said Mark Fleming, NIJC associate director of litigation.

"Counsel and representatives of the government did not immediately respond to Law360''s requests for comment Monday... I.M. is represented by Democracy Forward, the National Immigrant Justice Center, and Steven P. Croley and James Henry Barker III of Latham & Watkins LLP."

Learn more about our case here ?

Pressing on w/ suit over Labor Dept.''s unlawful rollback of U and T visa certification policy that protected exploited immigrant workers

The Department of Labor unlawfully and abruptly upended a successful victim-protection visa program by unnecessarily requiring the involvement of criminal law enforcement agencies in the application certification process. Even worse, these changes apply to requests submitted in good faith based on the prior rule.

Even though DHS officials told the Dept. of Labor Wage and Hour Division that its role in detecting criminality and providing "critical evidence" of the applicant's victimization is invaluable, just days later, DOL chose to eviscerate the successful program.

In contrast to its prior policy, DOL now: 

• Refers worker complaints to a criminal law enforcement agency before certifying a request,
• Requires that law enforcement agency to agree with DOL's assessment of a potentially qualifying crime before certifying many requests,
• And no longer mandates that its certification decisions be made in a timely manner. 

These unlawful new requirements discourage immigrant victims of labor trafficking and abuse from reporting workplace crimes to authorities - making it harder for victims to find relief and for exploitative employers to be caught.

Last week, DOL held a public call for idea submissions of how it could improve on combating labor trafficking. So on behalf of NOWCRJ, we left DOL WHD a tip to consider a return to its prior, effective U and T certification policy. 

Follow our updates here ?

Compelling former VA Sec. Shulkin to turn over his private emails with Trump associates

In the face of our lawsuit, former VA Secretary David Shulkin told a federal court in a sworn affidavit that he has produced all emails pertaining to government business that he sent or received on two personal email accounts while serving at the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

Shulkin has previously acknowledged he "set up a new email address" to privately discuss VA policymaking with a group of three men - dubbed the "Mar-a-Lago Council" - who are tied to President Trump through his golf club and who unlawfully influenced VA policy on a sweeping range of issues.

The Federal Records Act requires that all business conducted on behalf of the American people be preserved and kept as part of the public record, including business conducted by private email. Shulkin's disclosure is a win for accountability and transparency in government.

Look back on the case ?

Surfrider Foundation joins suit against DOJ, EPA for unlawfully terminating Supplemental Environmental Projects

Photo Credit to Mike Killion @killertown via Surfrider Foundation

Making waves: The Surfrider Foundation - which works to ensure clean water and healthy beaches for all people - has joined Conservation Law Foundation in our suit against the Trump admin''s Justice Department and EPA for the unlawful termination of a successful, decades-old tool that allows polluters to fund environmental clean-up projects for injured communities. 

Our lawsuit seeks to set aside a memo by senior DOJ official Jeffery Bossert Clark that wrongly prohibits Supplemental Environmental Projects from being included in pollution-related settlements of federal environmental enforcement actions.

Learn more about our suit here ?

"We deserve to be seen" - Foster youth and advocates express need for crucial ACF AFCARS data in new video

The federal Administration for Children and Families still does not collect crucial data on the representation or outcomes of American Indian/Alaska Native or LGBTQ+ youth in foster care and adoption systems across the U.S. 

A survey released last month by New York City's Administration for Children's Services makes the stakes clear: LGBTQ+ youth are remarkably overrepresented in NYC's foster care system and are more likely to report poor outcomes, like experiencing homelessness, depression, and negative experiences with police.

National data is indispensable. Gutting federal foster care data reporting is yet another part of the Trump administration''s insidious agenda to eliminate programs meant to survey the needs of BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized communities.

The Trump administration's unlawful actions have left marginalized foster youth in the shadows. Now, hear their voices: former foster youth, advocates, and leaders stress the harm of HHS's rollback in foster care data reporting requirements.

Learn more about the case here ?

Snowmen may melt on sunny days, bad actors may leave government, but regardless of the winds of change we will still see our lawsuits through to the end. 

Here are our latest (virtual) court appearances:

VoteVets v. Department of Veterans Affairs

Senior Counsel Karianne Jones appeared in the U.S. Court of Appeals for District of Columbia Circuit for a hearing in our lawsuit on behalf of VoteVets against the Trump admin's illegal outsourcing of veterans policy to the so-called "Mar-a-Lago Council." Karianne presented the case before Judges Merrick Garland, Cornelia Pillard, and Robert L. Wilkins. Listen to the stream here ?

TPS Beneficiaries, Central American Resource Center v. Cuccinelli, Wolf, DHS

Ben Seel, Counsel, appeared before Judge Reggie B. Walton of the U.S. District Court for District of Columbia and described in detail the vulnerable position of TPS beneficiaries, like our clients, if the administration ends the Temporary Protected Status program. In response, the Court instructed the government to provide it with advance notice before DHS can take any steps to remove our plaintiffs. Ben will be back in court next month to argue that the case should proceed to the merits. See the order here ?

Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights et al v. Pompeo

Ben Seel also appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York before Judge John G. Koeltl to maintain that the final report of Pompeo's unlawfully-formed Commission on Unalienable Rights should be barred from use. We'll be presenting further arguments in the coming months. Learn more ?

??: Communications Director Charisma Troiano on WURD Radio "Reality Check"

AFT, AFSCME, WSNA, UNAC v. OSHA, Department of Labor

OSHA's failure to move forward with the long-delayed infectious disease standard has left millions of frontline healthcare professionals vulnerable to infections in the face of a surging pandemic. 

There is currently still no legally enforceable standard that requires employers to protect workers from diseases spread by contact, droplets, or air - like COVID-19 and influenza.

On behalf of unions collectively representing 500,000 healthcare professionals, we've filed suit against the Trump administration to compel OSHA to advance the rulemaking on an infectious diseases standard. 

Our oral argument is scheduled for the beginning of March - follow along for updates!

Learn more about our suit here ?