Defending Rights Against Deregulation

Our constitution cannot be erased. Our values must be defended. Our loved ones must be protected.

In the days and weeks since coming to power, President Trump and Congressional leaders have unveiled and unleashed an agenda of bigotry, vengeance and fear that strikes at the heart of many of the values and rights we cherish.

Trump and Congressional leaders have declared war on the Constitution and the rights its guarantees. They want to intimidate us into submission, but we won’t have it.

Public Justice is joining with allies and coalitions from across the country to respond to this unprecedented attack on our rights and our legal system and we’re also doing what we’ve done best for more than four decades: Protecting workers, consumers, the environment and our shared values and rights from those seeking to block and roll back the progress that we, and our partners in the legal and advocacy communities, have made.

From supporting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to opposing dangerous nominees, bills and executive orders targeting the clients and communities we represent and serve – we’re working to ensure that the voices of Public Justice Members, and the clients we serve, are heard.

Demanding Qualified Nominees

Public Justice opposes President Trump’s nomination of Linda McMahon to serve as Secretary of Education. McMahon is expected to quickly take action on Trump’s campaign pledges to rescind expanded Title IX protections put in place by the Biden Administration and protections for transgender students. Additionally, she has said that a key policy priority for her will be promoting school voucher programs that would send taxpayer funds to private, religious schools that are allowed to discriminate against students and personnel with little accountability. We’ve joined allies at the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), the National Education Association (NEA) and the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN), among others, in calling on lawmakers to reject McMahon’s nomination and demand an Education Secretary who will protect students and their rights.

We joined 86 allied organizations in signing a letter to Leader Schumer and Ranking Member Warren urging the appointment of qualified nominees to serve in the minority commissioner seats on the SEC.

Protecting the Transgender Community

We’re asking lawmakers to reject R. 28, the dangerous, misleadingly titled “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” which would harm women and girls and undermine civil rights for all students. Alongside over 400 organizations, we signed a letter to Congress, calling for the full inclusion, protection and celebration of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex youth.
We joined 170 organizations in signing the National Women’s Law Center letter to President Trump, condemning an Executive Order that seeks to weaken protections for transgender, nonbinary, and intersex individuals.

Fighting Climate Change

On his very first day in office, President Trump signed a series of executive orders that will undermine any efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency to protect clean air and water and curb climate change. While Trump’s nominee to head the agency, former Congressman Lee Zeldin, told Senators during his confirmation hearing that he believes climate change is real, Trump’s orders make any action to address the causes of climate change impossible. “At a time when we need to do more, the Trump climate agenda, entrusted to Zeldin to carry out, would be all about doing much, much less,” Public Justice Environmental Enforcement Project Director Dan Snyder recently wrote in an analysis of Trump’s orders, where Snyder also pledged that Public Justice will continue to “harness the power of citizen suits to bring transformative change for the victims of corporate greed, exploitation and pollution”

Fighting for Workers and Consumers

Public Justice condemns the firing of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra. Under Director Chopra, the CFPB has excelled at doing exactly what Congress intended it to do: serving as America’s consumer watchdog. It is especially troubling that Director Chopra’s firing comes after the Consumer Bankers Association and the Electronic Payments Coalition called for it. Just as wolves should not guard the sheep, banks should not get to pick their regulators.
Public Justice is speaking out against the President’s divisive executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and long-standing civil rights law and policy. These orders threaten the well-being of groups that have historically faced discrimination, and they increase the likelihood of discriminatory decision-making by the government and its contractors. But they are not a license to discriminate. Learn more about what the President’s orders do—and don’t—mean here.
We’re calling on lawmakers in Congress to reject calls to “delete” the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “Since its founding, the agency has returned more than $19 billion in cash to people who have been scammed by financial institutions, including predatory payday lenders and even some of the largest banks in the country,” Public Justice CEO Sharon McGowan wrote in a recent op-ed in The Hill, reminding leaders in Washington that, “Republicans and Democrats alike should ensure … the CFPB remains on the job, if they’re serious about providing real, meaningful economic relief to Americans.”
We’re proud to be part of a coalition of consumer rights groups asking Congress to support the CFPB’s rule removing medical debt from credit reports and its guidance on unlawful medical debt collection practice, as well as the agency’s overdraft fee rule.
In 2017, lawmakers in the House of Representatives launched an unprecedented attack on Americans’ access to the courts, introducing legislation, for example, that would have virtually eliminated the ability of those who have been wronged to bring class action lawsuits. As the new Congress and Administration began work in Washington, Public Justice reminded the public of the importance of protecting the right to everyone’s day in court. In a recent blog at Daily Kos, Access to Justice Communications Strategist Megan Varvais explains that, “…in a world where government agencies may soon be in the hands of those who protect the powerful, the best way to ensure accountability and justice for those they have harmed is to make sure our courts are accessible to everyone,” adding that, “Most voters—no matter who they voted for—want lower prices, good wages, and fair marketplaces. Protecting access to our courts will be crucial for ensuring they actually get those things.”

THIS IS A FIGHT THAT WILL TAKE ALL OF US.

Public Justice is a proud member of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCHR), the nation’s oldest, largest and most diverse civil and human rights coalition. And we’re also a proud member of Democracy 2025, a coalition of 350+ organizations representing millions of people, committed to working more quickly, more strategically, and in greater numbers than ever before to defend our democracy and disrupt far-right attacks on the American people.

There is strength in numbers and, together, we can prevail – but winning will take all of us. Join us as a Public Justice Member or donor and add your voice to the growing chorus of those rejecting the extreme agenda coming out of Washington.