Protecting Democracy [1]

American democracy is in jeopardy, from the disastrous Citizens United ruling that flooded our politics with corporate cash to the immoral assault on voting rights. We work every day to defend against these threats and advance bold reforms.

Overturn Citizens United Now

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Generative Artificial Intelligence and Threats to Democracy

Protecting Elected Officials from Threats
Making Government Work [2]

The U.S. government should work for the public, not corporations or industry. It should safeguard consumers, workers and the environment, and be funded well enough to do so. The budget process must not be obstructed by partisanship.

Get Corporate Money Out of Politics

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It’s Time to Cut the Bloated Pentagon Budget to Fund People, Not Military Contractors

Ensuring Public Money Does Not Go To Private Equity
Consumer & Worker Safeguards [3]

Every day, Big Banks, Big Polluters, and Big Tech companies are threatening our economy, our environment, and our democracy – sacrificing Main Street Americans and our families on the altar of corporate profits. Public Citizen advocates for ordinary people by taking on corporate interests and their cronies in government.

Don’t Let Big Tech Write Our Digital Privacy Laws

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Trump Guts Enforcement, Greenlights Corporate Crime Spree

Trump’s Executive Order Aims to Illegally Undermine Federal Independent Agencies, Shield Big Corporations from Accountability
Safe & Affordable Drugs & Devices [4]

Prescription drugs are unaffordable and new drugs and devices often are approved without being proven safe and effective. Public Citizen challenges Big Pharma, device manufacturers and federal regulators to make drugs and medical devices safe, effective and accessible to all.

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Health Care [5]

Health care in the U.S. leaves too many people out, costs too much and doesn’t meet acceptable standards of quality. Much of the care that we get is unaffordable, unnecessary or harmful. Public Citizen advocates Medicare for All, stronger oversight of dangerous doctors and safe clinical trials.

Win Medicare for All

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Report: Ranking of the Rate of State Medical Boards’ Serious Disciplinary Actions, 2021-2023

Report: Failed Trials, Yet Full FDA Approval of a Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Gene Therapy
Globalization & Trade [6]

As the division of Public Citizen that fights for a fairer global economy, we face unique challenges working on trade policy under Donald Trump’s presidency.

Trump has now twice won elections in part by weaponizing the very real frustrations many American voters have with their place in an increasingly complex and unequal global economy.

But instead of a real plan to uplift working people, Trump’s trade agenda is just another ploy to enrich himself and his billionaire friends.

Global Trade Watch seeks to hold Trump accountable and reveal the lie behind his faux populist claims. We will work to avoid the worst outcomes of his agenda, and where rare opportunities for progress arise, we will seize them. We will resist corporate attempts to revert to neoliberalism, and maintain our focus on creating a sustainable vision of global trade that uplifts workers across borders.

Learn more about our work.

Join the Trade Justice Movement

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Climate & Energy [7]

The climate crisis is the challenge of our time. We can fix it with solutions that will make us healthier and more economically secure. We must act quickly to make our economy run on renewable power — and ensure that disadvantaged families and displaced workers share equitably in the new economy. We also must fight the corrupting power of fossil fuel companies and ensure that energy regulators are effective and publicly accountable.

Tell Toyota: Go all-in on EVs

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Climate Roadmap for U.S. Financial Regulation

Toyota’s Troubling Electric Vehicle Track Record
Justice & the Courts [8]

Litigation can remedy or deter wrongdoing, impact policy and meaningfully slow abuses of power. Whether suing on behalf of our members to ensure the honest functioning of government, or representing individual consumers seeking redress in court, our litigation draws on our expertise in administrative law, constitutional law, and government transparency.

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February 26, 2025

Administration’s Non-Compliance with Court Order Causes Irreparable Global Harm

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Tonight, the administration filed an emergency motion in the U.S. Supreme Court asking the court to excuse its non-compliance with the Feb. 13 order and three subsequent district court orders, all of which required that the funding freeze and stop-work orders be lifted, at least on a temporary basis.

In response to the filing in the Supreme Court, Lauren Bateman, a Public Citizen attorney and lead counsel on the case, stated: “While the administration refuses to comply with the district court’s order, the irreparable harm to our clients increases each day, as does the suffering of millions of people across the world who depend on the work performed with these grants.”

Allison Zieve, director of Public Citizen Litigation Group, added: “The lengths to which the government is going to flout a court order, all for the goal of ending life-saving humanitarian assistance, is staggering.”

Additional background: On Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order directing agencies to freeze almost all foreign assistance, including to U.S.-led programs that support democracy and that provide critical food and medical aid to the poorest people in the world. Secretary of State Rubio followed up by ordering a halt on payments to those programs directing them to stop work. On behalf of two non-profit organizations who receive foreign assistance funding to support their work combating HIV/AIDS and supporting anti-corruption journalism — AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and Journalism Development Network — Public Citizen Litigation Group filed suit.

Two days later, on February 13, the district court issued a temporary restraining order directing the administration to restart funding and to allow organizations impacted by the freeze to resume their life-saving work while the lawsuit proceeded.