As Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House next month, progressive legal groups are bracing for an onslaught of far-right policies and threats to fundamental rights. Leading the charge in this defensive effort is Democracy 2025, a new coalition aimed at rapidly deploying “swift legal defenses” against the Trump administration and its allies.
At the helm of Democracy 2025 is Skye Perryman, CEO of progressive legal organization Democracy Forward. In an exclusive interview, Perryman detailed the coalition’s battle plans to take on both the Trump White House and the extensive “Project 2025” policy agenda being pushed by conservative groups like The Heritage Foundation. As Perryman explains:
“After Trump took office, people in communities in the United States started experiencing a range of harms based on policies the administration was implementing…Democracy Forward was founded in response to that reality, the threats to people in the United States, but also [threats] to our rule of law.”
– Skye Perryman, CEO of Democracy Forward
During Trump’s first term, Democracy Forward took his administration to court over 100 times, challenging actions like:
- The Pence-Kobach commission’s attempt to collect individual voter data
- Cuts to federal funding for bipartisan healthcare programs
- Rollbacks of nutritional standards for school lunches
Now, Perryman and Democracy 2025 are preparing for legal battles “far more extreme” than what they faced from 2017-2021. Despite Trump distancing himself from the unpopular aspects of Project 2025 on the campaign trail, Perryman notes that “they’ve wasted no time in this transition period in announcing their plans to appoint a number of those architects and implement those plans.”
Reason for Hope Amid the Threats
Though Republicans will soon control both the White House and Congress, Perryman sees reasons for optimism in the fight to protect democratic norms and individual rights. She points to the strong public opposition to Project 2025, even in conservative states, as well as the failure of some early Trump nominees like Matt Gaetz for Attorney General:
“The vast majority [of Americans] do not support extremism…The main point is that the American people have a lot of levers of their own power that they can use and build in this time. One of those is legal action.”
– Skye Perryman
With a slew of Biden-appointed federal judges and the prospect of a power shift in the 2026 midterm elections, Perryman believes progressives can hold the line against the worst threats, even with a conservative Supreme Court. But it will require a multi-pronged approach of litigation, advocacy, and grassroots pressure on elected officials.
Staying Strong Against Intimidation
Democracy 2025 is also preparing to defend itself and other progressive groups against legal attacks and intimidation tactics reportedly being planned by Trump allies. Perryman says they “know there’s a playbook” for these retaliatory efforts, but vows not to back down:
“Part of the work of defending the American people and defending democracy in this time is being willing to continue to use the tools that we have, all the tools our democracy provides…and then to understand that there may be certain consequences or attempts to quell that work through intimidation, through threats, a retributive agenda, but not to allow that to stop the important work that needs to be done in this moment.”
– Skye Perryman
As the nation braces for the combative years ahead, organizations like Democracy 2025 will be on the front lines, wielding the rule of law in defense of core democratic principles. Their success or failure could determine the course of American democracy for generations to come.
