Undaunted: The State Attorneys General

These lawyers are the tip of the legal spear to fend off MAGA extremism.

On Tuesday, they filed suit in Massachusetts alleging that the “Defund” provision in the big, ugly bill targeting Planned Parenthood was unconstitutional. The prior day, they filed a suit in the Northern District of California “challenging the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) demand that states turn over personal and sensitive information about millions of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients.”

Last week, they obtained a nationwide injunction to suspend Donald Trump’s blatantly unconstitutional attempt to repeal birthright citizenship. That was also the week they sued the Trump regime for an abrupt imposition of onerous documentation requirements that could block legal immigrants’ access to Head Start, community health centers, anti-poverty centers, and other critical programs.

Who are these dogged litigants? Democratic attorneys general, their states’ chief prosecutor. Democratic AGs from 23 states and the District of Columbia have, week in and week out, gone to court to stop Trump’s authoritarian power grabs (e.g., challenging DOGE). The suits have covered a wide range of subjects threatening our way of life, including interruption of vital funding (for health research, natural disasters, education, etc.), violation of individuals’ privacy in sharing confidential documents, illegal implementation of tariffs, dismantling of the Department of Education, distribution of machine gun conversion sets, and imposition of abortion restrictions.

They have also litigated more high-profile cases involving their own states, which nevertheless have national significance. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, for example, has been party to three dozen multi-state suits (in addition to litigation over deployment of Marines and nationalization of the California National Guard, despite the Governor’s objections). Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raol successfully defended his state from a Trump administration lawsuit on its “sanctuary cities” protections, which maintain state authority over its own law enforcement personnel.

These are hardly solo acts. Attorneys general from more than 20 states have taken turns as lead plaintiffs. CBS News reported in March from a town hall in St. Paul, Minnesota, where AGs from Minnesota, Arizona, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York were “repeatedly cheered” as they described their mission. The report quotes Minnesota’s AG Keith Ellison:

“The lawsuits that we are filing really are not about partisanship. They are about the rule of law.”

And, as others pointed out, they are also about the real pain inflicted on ordinary people and the burden transferred to states. They are about trying to support the victims of Donald Trump’s cruel cuts and spiteful executive decrees.

More recently, Democratic Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark told her local NPR station that Republican AGs who have stayed out of most litigation might find their states at a disadvantage, since the Supreme Court imposed limits on class actions. In other words, “these states that have benefited from the work of the Democratic attorneys general who are filing lawsuits are no longer going to be able to get that benefit unless they themselves sue.”

Meanwhile, AGs are also on the legal parapet defending against the current Justice Department’s unprecedented, lawless demands that states turn over their voter files, including voluminous and sensitive material to which they are not entitled. This is apparently part of a scheme revealed in the New York Times to gin up criminal prosecution against election officials. “Voting experts say the push by the Trump administration is alarming, particularly given that it has repeatedly argued, without reliable evidence, that the 2020 election that President Trump lost was affected by mass voter fraud.”

David Becker, who heads the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, recently commented on one such letter sent to Illinois demanding “the complete voter file for the state of Illinois, including all fields in that file, which is an absolutely huge file that contains so much sensitive data about Illinois citizens, including driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers and dates of birth that the Department of Justice is not entitled to receive and not entitled to demand.” As he pointed out, states have rejected the demands, yet the Trump goons “continue to seek to receive this information, citing sections of federal law that don’t apply and don’t require that.”

As the Trump crew’s conduct grows more desperate and its attacks on the legal system more egregious, state AGs will become even more important. That, in large part, is because MAGA justices and other rightwingers on lower courts have thrown up one roadblock after another impairing other litigants from suing (as happened this week in a Voting Rights Act case) or, as noted above, obtaining nationwide injunctions (as the MAGA majority held in the birthright citizenship case, yet another “emergency” ruling that lacked full explanation). In many instances, the AGs will be not only the last but the only line of defense against authoritarianism.

AGs have always been key players, evidenced by how many have gone on to higher office. Former AGs, for example, include Maine Gov. Janet Mills, Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal, Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, former Michigan governor and energy secretary Jennifer Granholm, and former senator and vice president Kamala Harris. In future election cycles you can expect to see many of them in races for governor and senator. Notably, former North Carolina AG Roy Cooper went on to serve two terms as governor and is now running for the Senate, while Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford has announced his run for governor.

At present, however, Democratic AGs have their hands full playing offense and defense against an overreaching, destructive, and hyper-partisan White House. They do not win every case, but their tenacious, skillful lawyering has inarguably slowed down Trump and crucially protected the well-being of their residents.

Their states and the rest of the country owe them a debt of gratitude for keeping up the fight for a decent society and the rule of law. Despite an often hostile and blatantly partisan Supreme Court that acts as Trump’s shield, the AGs remain undaunted. For this courage and fortitude, we honor them today.