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.

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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.

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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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March 10, 2025

Court Decision Reinforces Constitutional Principles, But Does Not Relieve Humanitarian Crisis

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tonight, a federal district court in Washington, DC, granted in part and denied in part a motion for a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC) and Journalism Development Network (JDN). The motion asked the court to allow humanitarian work to continue while the lawsuit challenging the administration’s foreign-assistance freeze moves forward. The two groups are represented in the case by Public Citizen Litigation Group.

The court ordered that the administration spend money appropriated by Congress for foreign assistance but declined to order restoration of foreign assistance grants that had been terminated en masse.

Lauren Bateman, an attorney with Public Citizen Litigation Group and lead counsel on this case, issued the following statement in response:

“Today’s decision affirms a basic principle of our Constitution: the president is not a king.

“But we are painfully aware that, without unwinding the mass termination of foreign assistance awards, winning on the constitutional issues does not avert the humanitarian disaster caused by the Trump Administration’s freeze on foreign assistance. And it does not undo the damage that the freeze has already inflicted on millions of vulnerable people across the world. Deaths will continue to mount.

“While the courts have an important role to play in standing up for the rule of law, Americans need more than just the courts. We need Congress, which has always supported foreign aid on a bipartisan basis, to assert itself.”