Democratic state attorneys general are ramping up preparations that were already underway to challenge key elements of President-elect Trump’s policy agenda, including his promise to roll back federal environmental regulations and order mass deportations.
Within hours of the election, attorneys general from across the country began signaling their intent to form a defensive wall against Trump policies they deem illegal or unconstitutional.
“Across the country, attorneys general will be on the front lines to protect our fundamental rights and freedoms,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell (D) said in a statement Wednesday. “My office is prepared for the threats our residents may face, ready to act and we will not shy away or back down from the critical work ahead.”
Campbell said her office will focus its energies on “acting against threats” to the rule of law, environmental justice, reproductive rights and the rights of immigrants and LGBTQIA populations, among other subject areas.
In a joint statement, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced they would work together and assign dedicated staff “to address potential federal legal threats to reproductive freedom, gun safety laws and other key issues.”
“My office has been preparing for a potential second Trump Administration, and I am ready to do everything in my power to ensure our state and nation do not go backwards,” James said in a statement. “We are ready to fight back again.”
The blue state response to Trump’s election intensified Thursday.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) called a special session of the legislature to provide additional funding to the California Department of Justice and other agencies “to support the ability to immediately file affirmative litigation challenging actions taken by the incoming Trump Administration.” The money will also fund California’s efforts to defend against potential litigation or enforcement initiated against the state by the Trump administration.
Newsom cited concerns about Trump restricting access to medication abortion, rolling back clean vehicles policies, repealing protections for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, and withholding disaster aid “as political retribution.”
Newsom’s special session announcement was followed by back-to-back news conferences from California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) and from Washington Gov.-elect Bob Ferguson (D) and his successor, Attorney General-elect Nick Brown (D).
All three vowed to serve as a West Coast bulwark against a second Trump administration and said they are better prepared this time around.
“We’ve been here before, we lived through Trump 1.0,” Bonta said. “Which means we won’t be flatfooted come January. You can be sure that as California attorney general, if Trump attacks your rights, I’ll be there. If Trump comes after your freedoms, I’ll be there.”
Bonta said his office has been communicating with other Democratic attorneys general for several months in preparation for the possibility of another Trump presidency.
Similarly, Ferguson said his office has been preparing for the past year for the potential of another Trump presidency. He said his staff had pored over Trump’s agenda on his website and the Project 2025 presidential transition project, which Trump distanced himself from on the campaign trail.
“I’m deeply concerned, of course, by the potential implication of the policies outlined in those documents,” Ferguson said.
Feguson, who sued the first Trump administration nearly 100 times, said Brown will inherit an office with far more resources to combat Trump policies compared to when Trump first took office in 2017.
“That infrastructure, on the positive side, is now in place,” Ferguson said. “Our team is much larger, it has the experience and the resources to when appropriate to litigate.”
“We will be prepared for whatever comes, and we will do everything in our power to defend the rights of Washingtonians,” Brown said.
Playing legal foil to Trump’s policies is a familiar role for Democratic attorneys general, who filed more than 130 multi-state actions against the first Trump administration and secured wins in more than 80% of their cases, according to tracking by Marquette University political science professor Paul Nolette. The torrent of lawsuits is almost certain to repeat in Trump’s second term.
“I expect them to be as, if not more, active than they were during the four years of Trump 1.0, which was already unprecedented in terms of its scope and number,” Nolette said.
Former Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore (R), who co-chairs national law firm Cozen O’Connor’s practice for clients facing state attorney general investigations and litigation, also expects a surge in litigation.
“I do see Democratic AGs reassuming that role that they had in the first Trump administration,” Kilgore said. “… They’re seeing themselves as a last line of defense because they’re looking at Republicans controlling the White House and the Senate and probably the House.”
Democrats are on track to hold 21 attorney general seats next year, mostly in the West, upper Midwest and New England. They are likely to work closely with each other to strategize their responses to Trump’s policies and file multi-state actions, which is often what happened in Trump’s first term.
“It’s going to be easy for them because they don’t need to recreate a playbook,” Kilgore said. “They’ve run these plays before in the first Trump administration and they’ll be ready on day one to run them again.”
Kilgore said Democratic attorneys general may benefit from a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. Hailed by conservatives, it overturned the Chevron doctrine, which required courts to give deference to how federal agencies interpret and implement laws when Congress has not been explicit.
“There’s no deference now given to agency rulemaking. … It can be used to the Democrats’ favor against a Republican administration,” Kilgore said.
Asked if Democrats run the risk of overreaching by suing the next Trump administration, Kilgore said the courts will be “quick to let them know” if they do. He also said the current make-up of the U.S. Supreme Court gives Trump a potential advantage in beating back state-led challenges to his policies.
“I just see the U.S. Supreme Court being asked by the Trump administration to weigh in more and more when rules are being challenged or when policies are being overturned,” he said.