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Democratic attorneys wide astir the state were astatine the forefront of the ineligible battles that enactment up roadblocks to cardinal parts of President Donald Trump’s sweeping docket astatine the outset of his caller administration.
Now, adjacent arsenic the archetypal rapid-fire onslaught of enforcement actions has slowed, they are vowing to support up their assertive — and coordinated — posture successful the courts.
In a associated interrogation with NBC News, the Democratic attorneys general, Andrea Campbell of Massachusetts, Rob Bonta of California and Matthew Platkin of New Jersey, laid retired their priorities for taking connected the Trump medication successful the second fractional of 2025 and beyond. They said they are specifically looking astatine bolstering user protections, combating what they spot arsenic Trump's weaponization of the national authorities and stymying the administration's migration policies.
Since Trump’s inauguration, Democratic attorneys wide person filed 30 lawsuits combined against the administration, focused connected issues including immigration and owed process, tariffs, federal idiosyncratic layoffs and the dismantling of national agencies. California has been a portion of 25 of those lawsuits, compared to 21 for New Jersey and 20 for Massachusetts.
Campbell, Bonta and Platkin said they volition stay vigilant successful responding to caller Trump policies portion maintaining fights connected captious areas stemming from the president's archetypal months successful office.
“One happening I deliberation we demonstrated successful the archetypal 100 days of this medication — and proceed to — is that we are organized, we are strategic, and we’re unafraid to instrumentality connected what’s coming, whether that beryllium unlawful enforcement orders oregon lasting up successful tribunal to support our states’ interests, residents, economies and institutions,” Campbell said.
“This isn’t astir argumentation oregon governmental differences,” Platkin noted. “That’s not the ground of a lawsuit.”
Rather, helium said, “We volition look astatine whether the president’s violating the instrumentality and hurting the residents of our state.”
A Trump medication spokesperson didn't respond to questions for this article.
'Weaponization' of authorities agencies
One of the astir salient concerns held by these Democratic attorneys wide is what they accidental is Trump’s weaponization of the government.
The Department of Government Efficiency has, for example, attempted to get entree to delicate Internal Revenue Service information that could jeopardize the idiosyncratic accusation — including the location addresses and Social Security numbers — of national workers and others. The information could besides beryllium utilized to people circumstantial radical with governmental retribution, and to propulsion mendacious narratives astir undocumented immigrants and voter fraud allegations, critics person warned.
“We’re moving intimately to enactment immoderate of these entities done existing lawsuits, whether straight filed by america oregon amicus briefs,” Campbell said.
She was among 19 attorneys wide who sued DOGE successful February “to support the delicate accusation of our constituents, including their IRS data, and guarantee that these agencies were not weaponized against our radical oregon against our residents oregon immigrants oregon weaponized against our nonprofit organizations oregon world institutions,” she said.
Meanwhile, referring to efforts by Republicans and the Trump White House to people definite nonprofits by stripping them of their tax-exempt status, Bonta said it was “shocking and remarkable” that the medication mightiness beryllium capable to spell aft specified groups “they don’t hold with based connected their viewpoint.”
He said specified efforts ran the hazard of violating those groups’ First Amendment rights, stating: “We volition beryllium watching intimately what the IRS does — and honestly, immoderate different weaponization.”
Immigration and owed process
Democratic attorneys wide person been particularly active successful warring Trump’s efforts to detain and deport undocumented immigrants.
And portion overmuch of those archetypal efforts centered astir litigation, Campbell said her bureau was going to treble down connected efforts to supply ineligible guidance to migrant communities successful her authorities truthful they amended cognize however to debar oregon grip specified situations.
“The guidance and the enactment that we’re doing to guarantee folks cognize what their rights are is conscionable arsenic important arsenic the litigation that we are filing against the national administration,” Campbell said. “That guidance volition proceed — and must. It volition not dilatory down.”
Campbell said that, conscionable past week, her bureau had released guidance to people who mightiness beryllium targeted successful Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids related to “know what their rights are, erstwhile it comes to ICE and ICE enforcement and ICE showing up successful their community.”
Consumer protections
Group members said they’d besides beryllium progressive connected the contented of user protections aft the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — the national bureau that had handled subject of specified abuses — was gutted by the Trump administration.
Campbell, arsenic good Bonta and Platkin, said they’d proceed to combat Trump’s attempted elimination of the agency, portion besides trying to bash immoderate of the enactment the bureau had overseen.
“Because we present bash not person a spouse astatine the national level looking to beforehand user protection, much of these cases present autumn connected us,” Campbell said.
Law enforcement
Platkin, for his part, said helium was acrophobic astir however galore of the Trump administration’s policies — particularly ones related to withholding definite backing for states and related to guns — had enactment nationalist information astatine risk.
He mentioned cost-cutting measures crossed Trump’s Justice Department that resulted successful the decimation of instrumentality enforcement and nationalist information grants.
In New Jersey, Platkin said that has resulted successful “taking cops disconnected the streets,” arsenic good arsenic the elimination of millions of dollars successful backing for items similar license sheet scholar technology, which helium said has helped instrumentality enforcement officials successful the authorities “to drawback convulsive criminals and quality traffickers and cause traffickers.”
Platkin besides expressed interest astir a colony Trump’s Justice Department reached past period that would allow the merchantability of devices that alteration modular firearms to occurrence similar instrumentality guns.
Platkin was progressive successful the litigation to combat income of the devices — called forced reset triggers — and was present reviewing affirmative lawsuits connected the matter.
“As the main instrumentality enforcement serviceman of my state, 1 happening that has fixed maine existent interest is the hazard to nationalist information that this administration’s policies person created,” helium said.
Tariffs
While Democratic attorneys wide person aggressively fought Trump’s tariffs, Bonta said the conflict was acold from over.
In summation to continuing the ineligible fight, helium said helium was going to intimately ticker to spot whether corporations successful his authorities mightiness exploit the economical uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariffs to unnecessarily raise prices.
“With respect to the tariffs — and corporations utilizing that accidental to harm consumers, to instrumentality vantage of them, perchance manipulate pricing — this is the breadstuff and food of what we do,” Bonta said. “We bash it successful non-Trump times. We bash it successful Trump times. We support consumers against terms gouging and junk fees and terms fixing and anti competitory behavior.”
“It’s conscionable what we do, and we volition proceed to bash that,” helium added.
Bonta warned that companies mightiness spot a unsocial accidental “to jack up their prices and harm consumers” and that helium and his colleagues would stay “vigilant successful our ongoing efforts to support consumers, whether it beryllium owed to a tariff excuse oregon immoderate different benignant of cover, to harm consumers.”
Bonta, Campbell and Platkin besides said they would stay flexible to woody with immoderate the adjacent signifier of the Trump presidency brings.
“When posed with the question, you know, ‘What bash we bash next,’ really, the reply is: It depends connected what the Trump medication does,” Bonta said.
“We’re monitoring each the things that he’s doing,” helium added. “And erstwhile helium crosses the threshold of taking an enactment that is unlawful and harming our states — meaning, we person lasting to writer — past we writer — immoderate it is."
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