Doctors for America v. Office of Personnel Management
Represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group, Doctors for America filed a lawsuit against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food And Drug Administration (FDA), and the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), for removing a broad range of health-related data and other information used by health professionals and researchers from publicly accessible government websites. As the complaint explains, the removal of key webpages and datasets creates a dangerous gap in the scientific data available to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks, deprives physicians of resources that guide clinical practice, and takes away key resources for communicating and engaging with patients. The complaint states claims under the Administrative Procedure Act, based on the failure to provide adequate notice before removal of these webpages and datasets, and because removing health information of vital importance to health professionals and their patients is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with the law.
On February 6, we moved for a temporary restraining order requiring the agencies to restore this vitally important information to their websites. On February 11, the judge granted the motion and ordered the agencies to restore the webpages and datasets while the litigation proceeds.
On February 18, we filed an amended complaint, naming the City and County of San Francisco as an additional plaintiff and adding additional HHS components (AHRQ, CBHSQ, CMS, HRSA, NCHS, NIH, and SAMHSA) and additional legal claims. We then filed a motion for a preliminary injunction and summary judgment.
On July 3, the court granted our motion, ordered restoration of the webpages on which DFA and San Francisco relied, and vacated the Office of Personnel Management and Department of Health and Human Services policies that led to the webpage removals. The court later entered an order awarding attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act. In December 2025, the agencies filed their last status report, showing that they had restored the webpages that they had unlawfully taken down.