Legal Actions

A coalition of unions have challenged the Department of Homeland Security for unlawful termination of a negotiated union contract that protects nearly 47,000 Transportation Security Officers (TSOs). Plaintiffs argue that this action violates the constitutional rights of federal employees and undermines collective bargaining protections. They further argue that this action is retaliation against the plaintiffs for exercising First Amendment rights to advocate on behalf of federal workers, and that the action violates the Fifth Amendment by stripping TSA workers of vested property rights without due process.

The Mayor and City Council of Baltimore and the Economic Action Maryland Fund have sued the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and its Acting Director Russell Vought to challenge the defunding of the CFPB. Since returning to office in January 2025, President Trump has expressed plans to eliminate the CFPB, and took the unprecedented action of replacing the director of the CFPB with his own appointee, Russell Vought. As Acting Director, Vought issued a stop work order for all CFPB employees and instructed them not to return to the CFPB offices, as well as cut off federal funding for the department entirely. Vought has also taken steps to cancel $100 million worth of CFPB contracts and began arbitrarily firing CFPB employees. The plaintiffs argue that Vought's decision to sever Federal Reserve funding for the CFPB violates the Administrative Procedure Act by rendering the CFPB unable to fulfill its statutory obligations. The Plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal of the case on May 29, 2025, citing the Defendants' representations regarding their inability and lack of intent to transfer funds outside of CFPB control.

A coalition of public service unions, environmental non-profits, and progressive advocacy organizations have filed a lawsuit against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and its Acting Director challenging the mass firing of government probationary employees for pre-textual reasons. On February 14, 2025, Acting Director of OPM Charles Ezell issued a directive to all federal agencies across the country ordering them to fire all probationary employees under the pretense of "poor performance," except for those few probationary employees considered "mission critical." The OPM directive led to tens of thousands of federal employees being laid off, despite their employing agencies having no previous intention of firing them. These agencies confirmed that OPM had instructed the agencies to use false claims of poor performance to lay off probationary employees. The plaintiffs argued that OPM directive violates the Administrative Procedure Act by defying an act of Congress and improperly firing employees of federal agencies. The plaintiffs requested the court find OPM's directive unlawful and issue an injunction preventing further layoffs, as well as requiring agencies to rescind their previous terminations of probationary employees.

The New York Immigration Coalition, Rural and Migrant Ministry, and three expectant immigrant mothers living in the country without citizenship have filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging President Trump's Executive Order 14160. This executive order denies birthright citizenship to infants born in the U.S., whose parents are not citizens or lawful permanent residents. The plaintiffs argue that this order directly violates the citizenship clause and the equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment and should to be declared unconstitutional and unenforceable.

A coalition of labor unions and six veterans have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Departments of Treasury and Education and the Office of Personnel Management for sharing payment systems and personnel databases with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The six individual plaintiffs in this case are military veterans who have been personally harmed by federal agency data sharing with DOGE. Upon its creation by President Trump in January 2025, DOGE has gained access to the payment systems and records of several government agencies, many of which contain the highly sensitive personal and financial information of American citizens. The plaintiffs in this case argued that DOGE's ability view confidential agency information intrudes upon the privacy of millions of Americans and violates the Privacy Act. The plaintiffs requested that the court find the DOGE data sharing unlawful and prevent further information from being shared with DOGE.

Hampton Dellinger has sued the Trump administration for unlawfully removing him from his position as Special Counsel and Head of the federal government's Office of Special Counsel. Dellinger was removed from his position in an email sent on behalf of President Trump, even though he was entitled to continue serving his five-year term in office and could only be removed if he had demonstrated inefficiency or neglect of duty. Dellinger argues that his termination violates the Administrative Procedure Act as well as the separation of powers defined in the Constitution.

The National Treasury Employee Union (NTEU), a labor union that represents 150,000 government workers, has filed a lawsuit against Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Russell Vought for sharing CFPB employees' private information with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). After creating DOGE through Executive Order 14158, Trump instructed DOGE to compile all federal government employee information by accessing each department's and agency's personnel records. Vought granted DOGE employees access to the CFPB's confidential personnel records, containing the personal and financial information of all of the agency's employees. The plaintiffs argue that Vought violated the Privacy Act by giving non-CFPB workers access to CFPB personnel files. The plaintiffs request that the court find Vought's actions unlawful and prevent Vought from granting DOGE further access.

A coalition of federal government employee unions and nonprofits have filed a lawsuit against Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Russell Vought challenging the dismantling of the CFPB. Upon returning to office in January 2025, President Trump has expressed plans to eliminate the CFPB, and took the unprecedented action of replacing the director of the CFPB with his own appointee, Russell Vought. As Acting Director, Vought has issued a stop work order for all CFPB employees and instructed them not to return to the CFPB offices, as well as cut off federal funding for the department entirely. Vought has also taken steps to cancel $100 million worth of CFPB contracts and began arbitrarily firing CFPB employees. The plaintiffs in this case allege that Vought's actions amount to dismantling the CFPB, and argue that such actions violate the separation of powers enumerated in the Constitution by eliminating an agency established by an act of Congress.