Legal Advocacy
About AARP Foundation Legal Advocacy
AARP Foundation Litigation is one of the few national organizations that defends and supports the legal rights of older Americans across the United States—assuring that they have a voice in our judicial system.
Our legal work encompasses areas of federal and state laws that affect older Americans day-to-day lives including:
- age and disability discrimination in employment
- pensions
- financial fraud including predatory lending
- health and long-term care
- disability and
- government and public benefits
We protect and preserve the rights of older Americans by representing them in important court cases and by writing amicus (“friend of the court”) briefs, which allow AARP to share research, facts, and policy analysis, helping courts make good decisions in precedent setting cases.
Our legal advocacy focuses on widespread practices or policies of industry, business, or government that are unfavorable to Americans over 50. On average, we have 14 attorneys working on over 70 different cases at a time.
Many of our efforts have helped form the core of AARP-wide initiatives. Our legal action in the area of predatory lending has been a key factor in AARP’s efforts to protect homeowners from losing their homes. In 2003, our legal action in the field of prescription drug policies was a key part of AARP’s comprehensive campaign to reduce the costs of prescription pharmaceuticals.
Due to these rising costs, a greater need for prescription drugs, and fixed incomes, many older and uninsured people simply do without much needed medication. AARP Foundation Litigation is working to:
- Support innovative state experiments to expand access to prescription drugs
- Compensate consumers and governments that paid too much as a result of price-gouging,
- Enforce antitrust laws in the pharmaceutical market, and
- Eliminate bottlenecks in the process that brings affordable generic drugs to market.