2. Trump’s Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke unlawfully tapped an outside advisory group stacked with hunting and gun advocates to advise on the trophy hunting of threatened wildlife.

So we teamed up with environmental and animal advocacy groups to bring a lawsuit challenging the misnamed ‘International Wildlife Conservation Council.’ The Council disbanded in the face of our lawsuit.

With the Natural Resources Defense Council, The Humane Society of the United States, and the Center for Biological Diversity, we were quick to pounce on the Trump administration’s use of this illegal advisory body.

First lady Melania Trump, left, with Margaret Kenyatta, Kenya’s first lady, right, pet a baby elephant the at David Sheldrick Elephant & Rhino Orphanage at Nairobi National Park in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Oct. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

5. Despite the mounting toll from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration’s Labor Department continued to stall progress on a long-pending workplace standard that would protect frontline healthcare workers from infectious diseases.

We sued with four labor unions — AFT, AFSCME, WSNA, and UNAC — to challenge this dangerous disregard for America’s frontline workers. The Biden-Harris administration has since told a federal court, in response to our suit, that it will now prioritize the standard.

There is currently no occupational safety and health standard on the books designed to protect healthcare workers from infectious diseases spread by contact, droplets, or the air — like influenza, COVID-19, Ebola, and more.

The Trump administration’s cruel decision to unreasonably delay progress on this standard left healthcare workers dangerously unprotected — in the face of a once-in-a-generation pandemic.

8. Trump’s USDA head Sonny Perdue rolled back healthier school nutrition standards for 30 million children.

We sued and won, reversing the rollback and helping to ensure students across America have access to healthier school meals.

Trump’s USDA weakened whole-grain requirements and increased permissible sodium levels for the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs, which feed 30 million children. We won a major victory for those kids with our lawsuit on behalf of the Center for Science in the Public Interest and Healthy School Food Maryland challenging the unlawful rollback.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has lunch with students in the cafeteria at Catoctin Elementary School in Leesburg, Va., Monday, May 1, 2017, after he unveiled a new rule on school lunches. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

11. The Trump administration’s DHS quietly leaked private & protected info about individuals’ immigration status to right-wing media outlets like Breitbart & Fox News. We demanded an investigation.

Under President Biden, the Department’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties took a look and concluded the issues we raised “are concerning and indicate … violations.”

The Trump administration took its anti-immigrant agenda to new heights by using DHS’s Office of Public Information to help drive a false and racist narrative that immigrants are criminals. Emails we uncovered via a public records lawsuit show that DHS’s press team chided a reporter for not highlighting an alleged criminal’s refugee status and routinely volunteered the immigration status of individuals that were the subject of negative news stories.

DHS’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties told us that these facts “indicate possible privacy and civil rights violations” and that it will develop new training protocols as a result. As the saying goes, what’s done in the dark will come to light. Or perhaps: what’s done on government email will be made public.

14. One of Trump’s top officials at the Department of Justice unlawfully banned the use of a critical enforcement tool allowing polluters to pay for projects that benefit the communities they’ve harmed with illegal pollution.

On behalf of the Conservation Law Foundation and the Surfrider Foundation, we filed suit. Our case spurred the Biden-Harris administration to withdraw the unlawful Trump policy.

In March 2020, Trump’s Assistant Attorney General for the Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division Jeffrey Bossert Clark abruptly and unlawfully banned the inclusion of Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) in environmental enforcement settlements. SEPs allow violators of environmental statutes to address the effects of their pollution, or to forestall future pollution, through projects that benefit affected communities.

DOJ is doing a full reset on environmental enforcement policies, even before new political officials are in place ????https://t.co/gzCN3eZo3v

— Ellen M. Gilmer (@ellengilmer) February 5, 2021

16. Trump’s FDA shelved e-cigarette and cigar regulations, allowing tobacco products attractive to kids to avoid FDA review. We sued and won, ending FDA’s unlawful delay in regulating the products.

18. The Trump administration decided to take a “drill, baby, drill” mindset to unlawful lengths by creating a secret advisory group stacked with fossil fuel lobbyists to write policy that benefits the industry. We rolled up our sleeves with WORC — the landowners, ranchers, and conservationists not invited to the party — and brought a successful lawsuit that forced the Trump administration to dismantle the unlawful group and abandon its recommendations.

20. The Trump administration refused to collect data on how financial institutions lend to women-owned, minority-owned, and small businesses as federal law requires. We teamed up with female small business owners in Iowa and Oregon, the California Reinvestment Coalition, and the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders, who refused to stay in the dark. Our lawsuit forced the Trump administration into a court-ordered agreement to take action.

22. At the eleventh hour, the Trump administration illegally and dramatically expanded the ability of federal contractors and subcontractors to cite religious objections to justify employment decisions that discriminate against women and members of the LGBTQ+ community. So we sued on behalf of the Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc., Pride at Work, and the American Federation of Teachers. The Biden-Harris administration has since told the court that it intends to propose rescinding the rule.

24. The Trump administration created an unlawful, secret policy to prevent DACA recipients from obtaining federal home loans. After our investigation showed that senior Trump officials at HUD gave misleading responses to Congress on the matter, we took the issue up with the HUD Inspector General. Secretary Carson was questioned about it at a congressional hearing with the documents our investigation revealed — he ultimately saw the light on his final day in office and reversed the policy.

17. In its final weeks, the Trump administration severely restricted immigrants’ access to justice in immigration court. We filed suit with five immigrant justice groups and sought a stay of the unlawful rule, which remains in effect. Our request for a stay is pending.

19. The day after the November election, the Trump administration proposed a sweeping rule that would automatically scrap ~18,000 HHS regulations affecting everything from healthcare and vaccination programs to baby formula and drug safety. The day before President Biden took office, Trump’s HHS finalized the plan and set off a ticking time bomb. We sued on behalf of the County of Santa Clara and a coalition of tribes, healthcare professionals, and health and food safety organizations to stave off the regulatory chaos that would result.

21. The Trump administration unlawfully refused to reopen Obamacare enrollment to allow millions of uninsured Americans affected by the pandemic to enroll in high-quality, affordable health insurance. We filed suit on behalf of the City of Chicago with the support of fourteen states and the U.S. House of Representatives. The issue was so important that in its first weeks in office the Biden-Harris administration promptly opened a special enrollment period, which has already allowed more than 200,000 Americans to get covered.

23. We’ve exposed Trump appointees across agencies, including EPA, Treasury, Education, and DHS for their cozy ties with Fox News and other conservative outlets. Our Freedom of Information Act investigation has revealed communications that may violate anti-propaganda laws prohibiting “covert propaganda,” which is created when government officials create content for publication or broadcast on private platforms without publicly disclosing their role.

25. Trump’s CFPB unlawfully created (and then operated) a Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law, which produced a 900-page final report recommending industry-friendly changes to consumer financial laws and regulations. We filed suit over the unlawful Taskforce on behalf of consumer advocates. A federal court has already rejected an attempt by the Trump administration to avoid accountability for the Taskforce.

26. Trump political appointees at NOAA may have unlawfully interfered with protections for the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale in order to facilitate seismic blasting for offshore drilling. We asked NOAA’s Scientific Integrity Committee to open an investigative inquiry, and it has. The inquiry is ongoing.

28. The Trump administration gave service providers funded by taxpayer grant money a free pass to discriminate against LGBTQ+ individuals seeking their services. The administration first announced it wouldn’t enforce critical nondiscrimination protections, then rescinded the protections altogether in its final days in power. We filed suit against both policies on behalf of organizations that represent the vulnerable populations directly harmed by the Trump-authorized discrimination.

30. Ken Cuccinelli — Trump’s unlawfully appointed acting USCIS Director — illegally blocked the path for immigrants with Temporary Protected Status to obtain permanent U.S. residency. On behalf of seven TPS beneficiaries and an immigrant justice group, we took the Trump administration and Cuccinelli to court (again).

32. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo unlawfully formed the Commission on Unalienable Rights, a group that provided recommendations to the State Department and was stacked with members who hold positions hostile to LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights. The Commission sought to favor religious freedom over all other human rights. So we stood up for the rights of all and joined renowned international human rights orgs in a lawsuit to stop the recommendations from Pompeo’s unlawful Commission on Unalienable Rights from infecting American foreign policy.

34. The Trump administration eviscerated vital anti-redlining rules put in place to ensure banks lend and invest in low- and moderate-income communities and communities of color. We partnered with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and the California Reinvestment Coalition and filed suit to reverse Trump’s short-sighted shredding of the rules. In February, a federal court rejected the Trump administration’s parting attempt to dismiss the case.

27. Trump’s Department of Education axed protections for survivors of campus sexual assault. We exposed the Trump administration’s collaboration with mens’ rights groups and surfaced former Attorney General Bill Barr’s inflammatory assertion that: “Male students are sacrificed to the mob.”

29. The Trump administration’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau failed to protect millions of student borrowers by illegally allowing large corporations that service federal student loans to operate without CFPB supervision as Dodd-Frank requires. We sued to force Trump’s CFPB to meet its obligations as a federal watchdog.

31. Trump’s Interior Department secretly and unlawfully weakened critical safety requirements designed to prevent another oil spill like the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. We filed a lawsuit on behalf of Healthy Gulf to seal off the oil industry’s ability to evade important safety protections.

33. Trump’s State Department made an unlawful, under-the-radar change to the agency’s definition of “public charge,” a provision in immigration law that limits who may come to the U.S. The Trump administration’s new definition deters immigrants and their families from using programs for which they’re legally eligible. We partnered with the City of Baltimore to file a lawsuit defending immigrants against the Trump administration’s xenophobic attacks.

35. Trump’s Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao refused to collect information on how often airlines lose and damage wheelchairs used by veterans and travelers with disabilities. On behalf of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, we sued to protect these travelers’ rights. In the face of our lawsuit and subsequent congressional action, the Trump administration relented and agreed to stop delaying a rule intended to make air travel safer and easier for passengers with disabilities.

36. Trump’s first Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke used nearly $40,000 in wildfire preparedness funds to pay for private helicopter rides while wildfires raged across the West Coast. If not for our public records investigation and lawsuit on behalf of the Western Values Project, the public wouldn’t have known about Zinke’s misuse of funds, and Zinke would’ve gotten away with it.

38. Trump’s Energy Department illegally allowed an air conditioner manufacturer to evade energy efficiency rules. We popped that hot air balloon with a successful lawsuit that prompted a federal court to overturn the rollback. The court said the Trump administration was determined to roll back those energy efficiency testing rules “through any means available.”

40. Trump’s USDA refused to give small farmers a fair chance to fight back against abuse by Big Agriculture. We stood up for the little guy and sued on behalf of a coalition of farmers. Our lawsuit forced the USDA to publicly state that it would revisit the Farmer Fair Practices Rules.

42. Trump’s Departments of Justice and Homeland Security issued an error-ridden, biased report that falsely linked terrorism to immigration. So we teamed up with Muslim Advocates, filed suit, and got the Trump administration to admit its report failed to “promote the perception of objectivity.”

44. Trump’s Department of Homeland Security deported hundreds of thousands of people under an unconstitutional policy permitting low-level, unappointed Customs and Border Protection employees to unilaterally deport noncitizens without a hearing or judicial review. We filed suit on behalf of a noncitizen who was unlawfully deported after being detained at O’Hare International Airport despite having been issued a visa by the State Department.

37. At the start of the Trump administration, the EPA unlawfully yanked grant funding from the Bay Journal, a regional newspaper that offered critical, factual coverage of the administration’s harmful environmental agenda. We stood up for local news with a challenge to the funding termination — and EPA reversed course and restored the funding.

39. The Trump administration unlawfully tapped three of President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago associates to provide advice and recommendations to the Department of Veterans Affairs on issues of critical importance to America’s veterans. We filed suit on behalf of VoteVets and demanded accountability for the Trump administration’s unlawful reliance on the shady “Mar-a-Lago Council.”

41. Federal contractor Oracle—owned by Trump supporter Larry Ellison—challenged the Dept. of Labor’s ability to enforce anti-discrimination laws. When the Trump admin’s actions made clear that it wouldn’t adequately represent the interests of all workers, we moved alongside the NWLC,  the Communications Workers of America, and United Steelworkers to intervene to uphold the agency’s authority to protect American workers from discriminatory employment practices.

43. Trump’s Interior Department plucked Stephen Wackowski from a company with an interest in oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and put him in charge of oil and gas policy in Alaska. The Interior Department’s Inspector General said there was “no doubt” a senior Trump official violated his ethics pledge. The report tracked an investigative request and supporting documents we submitted.

45. President Trump told his NY real estate cronies to create a committee that would advise the federal government on infrastructure policy. So we sued on behalf of Food & Water Watch. While Trump ultimately disbanded the committee, our lawsuit forced the White House to answer questions under oath about the scope and nature of the Infrastructure Council’s work.