WASHTINGTON, DC – A year after Democratic attorneys general filed their first lawsuit against the Trump administration, Oregon AG Dan Rayfield was joined by California AG Rob Bonta, Hawaii AG Anne Lopez, Maine AG Aaron Frey, and Minnesota AG Keith Ellison as they convened in Portland, Oregon, to discuss their ongoing legal challenges against the Trump administration and how they see themselves as a shield to protect all Americans against egregious violations of the Constitution by the administration.

“‘There is no way in hell we are going to let this president continue to chip away at our rights, at our democracy at this time,” Oregon AG Dan Rayfield told the town hall. “‘We’re going to continue to fight for this entire term and do our job as attorneys general…And what we need you to do — this is a partnership in all communities, you have a voice, you must exercise it.’”

Key highlights from The Verge:

• “‘We are not backing down,’” AG Rayfield said. “‘There is no way in hell we are going to let this president continue to chip away at our rights and our democracy at this time. We are going to continue to fight for this entire term and do our job as attorneys general.’”

• “‘A Republican-led Congress is doing nothing,’ [California AG Rob] Bonta said. ‘They are supine. They are not a check… but we’re a check. We’re the check when you need the checks and the balances.’”

• “The Constitution, Bonta said, was ‘built for this.’ Even if the separation of powers at the federal level had failed, the separation between the federal government and states was still in place. In other words, the last check on Donald Trump was states’ rights.”

• “Having gotten a good sense of what Trump was capable of in his first term, the state AGs began to work together well in advance, getting on daily phone calls. There were 23 AGs total (24, now), but they were working together smoothly, said Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez.”

• “Over the next few months, the AGs would file lawsuit after lawsuit, enjoining the Trump administration from its illegal attempts to withhold Congressionally appropriated funding from the states while DOGE hijacked the federal government. Then came the tariffs; the AGs sued over that too.”

• “Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said he would ‘welcome Republican attorneys general’ to join them on the cases, noting that the Republican AGs had stayed out of the fights altogether.”
• “We are the only government agencies fighting against this federal administration,” said [Hawaii Attorney General Anne] Lopez.”
• “‘I don’t even think that they care about it,’ [AG Lopez] said, seeming to refer to the Trump administration. ‘They don’t care about making excuses about it … I think the sycophants who are following this president are willing to sell their souls for whatever he is looking for. Because what they’re saying, what they’re doing, is so unconscionable on a daily basis, so immoral, that all of us need to be able to understand, there’s no way that they’re ever going to let up. We have to fight.’”

Key highlights from Oregon Capital Chronicle: 

• “Ellison told reporters Wednesday before the town hall that ‘we’re all’ considering the issue of election integrity ahead of the 2026 midterm season…”

• “‘We’re very well aware that it is an election year midterm, and that everybody’s reading the polls, and some folks want to forestall the voter’s will,’ Ellison told reporters. ‘So we’re all concerned about that.’”

• “The attorneys general stressed that they took their adversarial legal approach to secure billions of dollars in threatened funding and civil rights for their constituents. They encouraged their Republican counterparts in other states to join them.”

• “‘Donald Trump decides when and if we will sue him. If he breaks the law, we sue. If he doesn’t break the law, we don’t sue. It’s really that simple,’ Bonta told attendees. ‘So he decided he wanted to get sued more than once a week, and so we obliged and sued him.’”

• “Oregon has sued his administration more than 50 times, often teaming up with other Democratic statesto prevent federal funding cuts and to block new policies from disproportionately impacting the environment, immigrants and people seeking gender-affirming care.”

• “Those moves have secured billions of dollars in funding meant for Oregon Health & Science University research, electric vehicle infrastructure, sexual health education programs and education programs supporting low-income and unhoused students.”

###