Democracy Forward Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

legal services A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as wel ...

and

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...

research organization in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Founded in 2017, the organization works to expose and litigate corruption in the

Executive Branch The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law. Function The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...

of the

United States government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...

. Notable examples of the group's work include '' Canoe Cruisers Association v.

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

'', '' VoteVets v.

Department of Veterans Affairs The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing lifelong healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...

'', and ''City of Columbus v. Trump''. On June 2, 2023, Democracy Forward launched a lawsuit on behalf of a coalition of Arkansas librarians, booksellers, and customers, which challenged parts of the Arkansas Act 372 that aimed to introduce criminal penalties for librarians and booksellers who provided materials deemed "harmful to minors". On December 23, 2024, a federal judge declared those sections unconstitutional. On January 27, 2025, the group provided lawyers for a group of

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

congregations who opposed

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's rescinding of guidance prohibiting immigration raids in sensitive areas (including places of worship, schools and hospitals) without approval. The group filed lawsuits opposing a number of executive orders signed early in the second Trump administration, including those mostly shuttering

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian United States foreign aid, foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 19 ...

, offering a brief window for "deferred resignation" by federal employees, and freezing up to $3 trillion in federal spending. It also filed suit to restrict actions by Elon Musk's

DOGE Doge, DoGE or DOGE may refer to: Internet culture * Doge (meme), an Internet meme primarily associated with the Shiba Inu dog breed ** Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency named after the meme ** Kabosu (dog), the dog portrayed in the original Doge image ...

operation.

References

External links

The Progressive Legal Group That Keeps Taking On Trump In The Courts – And Winning
at ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'' Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C. Government watchdog groups in the United States Democracy promotion {{US-org-stub