Democracy Forward Lawsuits Against Federal Policy

Democracy Forward, a national legal organization led by Skye Perryman, filed more than 150 lawsuits against the Trump-Vance administration in 2025 alone, securing court orders that blocked or paused a sweeping federal grant freeze, a shutdown-era cutoff of SNAP food benefits, mass deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, IRS sharing of taxpayer addresses with ICE, the dismantling of Voice of America, a freeze on K-12 education funds, anti-DEI directives to schools and contractors, and the termination of Justice Department grants supporting domestic-violence survivors.¹

The Federal Funding Freeze Case

In late January 2025, the administration ordered a sweeping freeze on federal grant disbursements affecting trillions of dollars in services. Democracy Forward filed the first lawsuit challenging it, representing the National Council of Nonprofits, the American Public Health Association, Main Street Alliance, and SAGE. Judge Loren AliKhan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction barring agencies from carrying out “unilateral, non-individualized” funding cutoffs.² TIME later described the effort as securing both an administrative stay and a nationwide injunction, and named Perryman one of its 100 Most Influential People of 2025 for organizing the rapid response.³

SNAP Benefits During the Shutdown

In October 2025, the administration moved to halt Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits during a government shutdown. Democracy Forward sued on behalf of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches and other plaintiffs in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. On October 31, 2025, the court granted a temporary restraining order blocking the cutoff and the cancellation of work-requirement waivers in high-unemployment areas, protecting benefits for 42 million people.⁴

When the administration was slow to comply, Judge John McConnell Jr. found the government had “failed to consider the harms” to SNAP recipients and noted the president had shown an “intent to defy a court order.” The government appealed to the First Circuit.⁵

Alien Enemies Act Deportations

One of the most visible cases is J.G.G. v. Trump, filed March 15, 2025, alongside the ACLU. The suit challenged the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport Venezuelan nationals without standard due-process protections. Judge James Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order the same day.⁶

On April 7, 2025, the Supreme Court vacated the TRO in a 5–4 decision, holding the case had been filed in the wrong venue because the detainees were in Texas, not the District of Columbia, and that challenges under the Act must be brought as habeas corpus petitions in the district of confinement. The Court also reaffirmed that individuals targeted under the Act retain due-process rights, including notice and judicial review.⁷

Litigation continued in the D.C. District Court. In December 2025, Judge Boasberg granted summary judgment for the plaintiffs, ordered the government to facilitate the return of class members to the United States to pursue habeas relief, and required specific remedial measures including parole and boarding letters. The government appealed to the D.C. Circuit in March 2026.⁶

Other Immigration Challenges

On March 9, 2026, a D.C. District Court judge blocked significant portions of a rule that would have cut the time to file immigration appeals from 30 days to 10 and allowed dismissal of appeals before transcripts were created. Democracy Forward brought the case on behalf of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights and other organizations.⁸

In March 2025, the organization filed a separate suit in the District of Maryland challenging a Department of Homeland Security freeze on grant funding for naturalization and citizenship programs.⁹

IRS Taxpayer Data Sharing With ICE

Representing the Center for Taxpayer Rights, Democracy Forward challenged an IRS policy that shared taxpayer address data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the D.C. District Court found the arrangement “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative Procedure Act and ruled it likely violated federal tax-code privacy protections enacted after Watergate. A September 2025 interim order required the IRS to give 24 hours’ notice before sharing data. On November 21, 2025, the court replaced that with a full injunction blocking the disclosures.¹⁰¹¹

Voice of America Shutdown

After a March 2025 executive order effectively shut down the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Democracy Forward co-represented plaintiffs in Widakuswara v. Lake, named for a Voice of America White House bureau chief and the presidential adviser overseeing the agency. On April 22, 2025, Judge Royce Lamberth issued a preliminary injunction ordering the administration to restore operations at VOA, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks. He called the shutdown “arbitrary and capricious” and likely in “direct violation of numerous federal laws.”¹²¹³

The government appealed and initially obtained a stay from a D.C. Circuit motions panel. The full D.C. Circuit, sitting en banc, reinstated the injunction on May 28, 2025.¹⁴

Education Funding and Anti-DEI Directives

In July 2025, after the administration froze nearly $6 billion in K-12 education funds Congress had directed to be distributed, Democracy Forward filed Anchorage School District v. Department of Education in the District of Rhode Island. The case ended in a stipulated settlement: the government released the funds in two tranches, with the second due around October 1, 2025. The case was dismissed in September 2025 after the funds were disbursed, though the government did not concede the plaintiffs’ claims were meritorious.¹⁵

On the DEI front, the group secured three federal court rulings in April 2025 against the Department of Education’s “Dear Colleague Letter,” which conditioned funding on schools abandoning diversity programming. A nationwide injunction stopped the directive from taking effect. A Maryland judge blocked funding withholding from districts with DEI programs as a likely First Amendment violation. A D.C. judge blocked demands that schools certify compliance with the anti-DEI directives.¹⁶

In April 2026, Democracy Forward filed NADOHE v. Trump in the District of Maryland, targeting a March 2026 executive order requiring federal contractors to renounce race- and ethnicity-based DEI efforts or face contract termination and potential False Claims Act liability. The case alleges First and Fifth Amendment violations and was pending as of mid-2026.¹⁷

DOGE Access to Federal Data

Democracy Forward represents a coalition of major labor unions, including the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, AFGE, and SEIU, in AFL-CIO v. Department of Labor, filed in the D.C. District Court in February 2025. The suit alleges federal agencies unlawfully granted the Department of Government Efficiency access to sensitive labor and economic data at the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A federal judge denied the government’s motion to dismiss and allowed discovery, including depositions of DOGE and agency personnel.¹⁸ By early 2026, both sides had filed cross-motions for summary judgment, with the plaintiffs seeking destruction of any data DOGE had already obtained.¹⁹

ABA Grant Termination

After the Department of Justice terminated $3.2 million in grants that funded training for lawyers and judges working with domestic violence and sexual assault survivors, Democracy Forward sued on behalf of the American Bar Association. Judge Christopher Cooper found the termination was likely unconstitutional retaliation for the ABA’s First Amendment-protected advocacy and litigation. On May 16, 2025, he issued a preliminary injunction requiring the administration to pay out $2 million in outstanding grant funding, noting the government had not meaningfully contested the merits of the retaliation claim.²⁰

Probationary Federal Workers

Democracy Forward and the Alden Law Group filed a class complaint in February 2025 challenging the mass termination of probationary federal employees. The Merit Systems Protection Board granted a stay on six terminations and reinstated the affected workers. The organization sought to expand that stay to cover all probationary employees dismissed under the same policy.²

How the Cases Are Built

Democracy Forward’s litigation relies heavily on coalitions of organizational plaintiffs, including unions, professional associations, school districts, and nonprofits, to establish standing and frame government actions as causing systemic harm rather than isolated injuries. That structure has produced nationwide injunctions rather than relief limited to a single plaintiff.²¹

The recurring legal theories are First Amendment challenges arguing that vague government directives chill protected speech; Administrative Procedure Act claims that agency actions are arbitrary or exceed statutory authority; and separation-of-powers arguments that the executive branch is spending or withholding funds in ways Congress did not authorize. The group has also argued that some funding cuts amount to unlawful retaliation against organizations exercising their First Amendment rights.²¹

Who Runs the Organization

Democracy Forward was established in late 2016 and early 2017 in response to the incoming Trump administration. It operates through two legally distinct entities that share a board, staff, and website: the Democracy Forward Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and Democracy Forward, a 501(c)(4) advocacy affiliate.²²

The board is chaired by Marc Elias, previously general counsel for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and head of the political law practice at Perkins Coie.²² Skye Perryman became president and CEO shortly after January 6, 2021, having been part of the founding legal team and a litigation attorney at WilmerHale and Covington & Burling.²³ The legal staff has grown to over 65 attorneys, many recruited from the Department of Justice, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and major private firms, and in August 2025 the group launched a dedicated appellate practice for cases reaching the federal courts of appeals and the Supreme Court.²⁴

1
Democracy Forward. 2025 Impact Report
2
Civil Service Strong. Democracy Forward Secures Stay on the Termination of Six Probationary Federal Workers
3
TIME. Skye Perryman
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Democracy Forward. SNAP TRO Granted
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NPR. SNAP Partial Payments Trump Administration
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Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. J.G.G. v. Trump
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Democracy Forward. Challenging Trump Administration’s Expansion of Wartime Powers
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Democracy Forward. Federal Court Blocks Significant Pieces of Administration’s Sweeping Immigration Appeals Rule
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Democracy Forward. Funding Freeze 031725
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FedScoop. Judge Rules Against IRS Sharing Taxpayer Addresses With ICE
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Democracy Forward. Court Orders IRS to Stop Sharing Confidential Taxpayer Information With ICE
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OPB. Judge Blocks Trump Administration Plans to Dismantle Voice of America
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Democracy Forward. VOA PI Granted
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Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. Radio Free Asia v. United States of America
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Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. Anchorage School District v. U.S. Department of Education
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Democracy Forward. Victories in Court
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Bloomberg Law. Newest Anti-DEI Trump Order Violates First Amendment, Suit Says
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Democracy Forward. Labor and Economic Organizations Ask Judge to Stop DOGE Access to Three Federal Agencies
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Democracy Forward. Protecting Sensitive Labor Data From Unlawful DOGE Access
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Democracy Forward. Democracy Forward Wins Nationwide Injunction to Protect Grants Supporting Domestic and Sexual Violence Survivors
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American Bar Association. Litigation Resistance Protect Civil Rights Democracy
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Influence Watch. Democracy Forward Foundation
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Democracy Forward. Skye Perryman
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Global Legal Insights. Democracy Forward Launches Appellate Practice to Bolster Pro-Democracy Legal Strategy