Oversight & Litigation

House Democrats are continuing to hold the Trump Administration accountable as they attempt to undermine critical programs and resources for communities across the country. Below are recent developments concerning oversight and investigative tools House Democrats are deploying as we fight for transparency and work to vindicate the Constitution. 

Joining the Legal Battle

  • House Democrats’ Litigation Task Force Co-Chairs Assistant Leader Joe Neguse and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin led 179 Members of Congress from both the House of Representative and the Senate in filing an amicus brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit challenging President Donald Trump’s sweeping and chaotic tariffs that were unlawfully imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The lawmakers’ brief stands up for Congress’s Article I executive legislative powers and argues that IEEPA is not a tariff statute and that Congress did not intend or provide for IEEPA to be used as a tariff statute.
     
  • House and Senate Democratic Leadership filed an amicus brief supporting a coalition of plaintiffs including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Education Association (NEA), the American Federal of State, County, and Municipal Employees 3 (AFSCME) fighting to stop the Trump Administration’s illegal actions to dismantle the Department of Education. The brief, signed by 179 Democratic members, was led Litigation Task Force Co-Chairs Assistant Leader Joe Neguse and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, along with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Representatives Robert C. “Bobby” Scott and Rosa L. DeLauro, and Senator Elizabeth Warren.
     
  • House Democrats’ Litigation and Rapid Response Task Force Co-Chairs Assistant Leader Joe Neguse and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, together with Task Force Co-Chair and Ranking Member DeLauro and Ranking Member Pallone, filed an amicus brief signed by 152 members challenging  President Donald Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional attempt to cut billions of dollars in NIH grants for biomedical and public health research jeopardizing the healthcare of the American people. 
     
  • House Democrats’ Litigation and Rapid Response Task Force filed an amicus brief in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals case, Casa v. Trump, fighting against the Trump Administration’s illegal attacks on the constitutional principle of birthright citizenship. The brief was signed by 170 members of the Democratic Caucus, including leads and Litigation Task Force Co-Chairs Assistant Leader Joe Neguse and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, along with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Representatives Bennie Thompson, Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Committee, and Pramila Jayapal, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement.
     
  • House Democrats’ Litigation and Rapid Response Task Force led 148 Members of Congress in filing an amicus brief challenging President Donald Trump’s sweeping and chaotic tariffs unlawfully imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The lawmakers’ brief stands up for Congress’s Article I exclusive legislative power to impose tariffs and regulate commerce, and argues that IEEPA does not give the President the power to impose reckless, on-again-off-again tariffs, which have wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy.
     
  • House Democrats’ Litigation and Rapid Response Task Force elevated their fight against the Trump Administration’s illegal attacks on the constitutional principle of birthright citizenship to the highest court in the land—filing an amicus brief for the  three birthright citizenship cases currently before the United States Supreme Court (Trump v. State of Washington, Trump v. CASA, Inc., and Trump v. State of New Jersey).
     
  • House Democrats’ Litigation and Rapid Response Task Force led 192 House Democrats in filing an amicus brief challenging the Trump Administration’s efforts to close the Department of Education in the matter of the State of New York v. Linda McMahon. The brief was led by Task Force Co-Chairs Jamie Raskin and Joe Neguse, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Ranking Members of the Appropriations and Education and Workforce Committees, Representatives Rosa DeLauro and Robert C. “Bobby” Scott. 
     
  • House and Senate Democratic Leadership filed an amicus brief opposing President Donald Trump’s unlawful attempt to fire the two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission, an independent agency, in violation of established Congressional practice, consistently upheld by the Supreme Court. The brief was led by House Ranking Members Jamie Raskin and Bobby Scott, alongside House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Assistant Leader Joe Neguse, as well as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senators Cory Booker, Dick Durbin, Maria Cantwell, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar. It was joined by 253 Congressional Democrats. 
     
  • House Democrats’ Litigation and Rapid Response Task Force filed an amicus brief in defense of the essential constitutional principle of birthright citizenship in the matter of State of Washington, et al. v. Trump, et al. The Ninth Circuit brief was signed by 208 members of the Democratic Caucus, including leads and Litigation Task Force Co-Chairs Assistant Leader Joe Neguse and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, along with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Representatives Bennie Thompson, Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Committee, and Pramila Jayapal, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement.
     
  • House and Senate Democratic Leadership filed an amicus brief opposing President Donald Trump’s unlawful attempts to fire members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Illegal attempts to terminate duly appointed and congressionally confirmed board members at these independent federal agencies threaten the integrity of these institutions and their ability to protect American workers and uphold workplace democracy. The brief was led by House Ranking Members Jamie Raskin, and Bobby Scott, alongside House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Assistant Leader Joe Neguse, as well as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker – and was joined by 253 Congressional Democrats. 
     
  • House Democrats’ Litigation and Rapid Response Task Force, Judiciary Ranking Member and Task Force co-chairs Assistant Leader Joe Neguse and Jamie Raskin, Foreign Affairs Ranking Member Greg Meeks, and Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Lois Frankel in conjunction with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, led an amicus brief joined by 202 House Democrats standing up to the blatant executive overreach and illegal dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in the matter of American Foreign Service Association, et al. v. Trump, et al.
     
  • Over 200 House Democrats, led by Ranking Member Maxine Waters, Leader Jeffries, Assistant Leader Neguse and Ranking Member Raskin, joined an amicus brief in defense of American consumers and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in the matter of National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), et al. v. CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought, et al. before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Resolutions of Inquiry

Holding National Security Leaders Accountable  

  • Ranking Members Adam Smith, Greg Meeks, Jim Himes, teamed up to demand answers from the Trump Administration after a report that the administration texted a journalist sensitive and classified information over Signal around plans for U.S. military strikes on Yemen. 

  • Leader Jeffies urged President Trump to fire Secretary Hegseth immediately following his reckless actions. 

  • Co-Chair Jamie Raskin wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel regarding the Trump Administration’s reckless usage of Signal to discuss attack plans in a group chat and demanded an investigation into the reckless and illegal practices by cabinet members. 

Demanding Answers

  • Co-Chair Jamie Raskin and Ranking Member Bennie Thompson sent a letter to Trump Administration officials demanding to see the agreement they crafted with El Salvador to hold more than 200 individuals from the United States in the notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) mega-prison and possibly other detention centers in El Salvador.

  • Rep. Stephen Lynch sent a letter to U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Acting General Counsel Charles L. Young III requesting documents, information, and demanding answers as to how DOD is ensuring Elon Musk or anyone else are not using their positions as Special Government Employees (SGE) to enrich themselves or their companies in violation of federal ethics rules.

  • Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette (D-CO), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Yvette Clarke (D-NY) wrote to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. today expressing outrage and demanding answers on the reckless decision to eliminate 25 percent of the agency’s workforce.

  • Hundreds of House Democrats have joined forces to demand answers from the administration on a wide range of illegal activities. Ranking Member Jamie Raskin and Rep. Lucy McBath sent a letter to Attorney General Pamela Bondi demanding information on the Trump Administration’s Executive Order directing an examination of critical firearms regulations, which threatens measures that have saved lives and helped address the threat of gun violence. Ways & Means Ranking Member Richie Neal led Committee Democrats in demanding answers via letter from HHS Secretary Kennedy and Treasury Secretary Bessent on DOGE’s latest unlawful and unjust incursion into taxpayer data, while Energy and Commerce Democrats sent a letter demanding answers from the Acting CMS Administrator regarding the administration’s reckless purge of workers at the agency. And Rep. Sean Casten led over 105 Democrats on a letter demanding an end to the illegal firing of public servants, including those responsible for managing the United States’ nuclear weapons arsenal.

Fighting for Tribal Communities

  • DOGE Subcommittee Ranking Member Melanie Stansbury led over 110 Democrats calling on the Trump administration to immediately stop and reverse draconian cuts to vital Tribal programs.