WASHINGTON, DC – With almost a year since Trump took office for his second term, Democratic attorneys general have made quick work in challenging the administration for its constant unlawful actions and violations of the U.S. Constitution, having filed a total of 71 lawsuits in 2025. As the new year begins, Democratic AGs told Stateline that they are committed to defending the American people and will continue to take Trump to court in the new year as the administration shows no signs of stopping its attacks on democracy.

“‘It’s not a slogan or a political brand,’” Oregon AG Dan Rayfield told Erika Bolstad of Stateline regarding the coalition of Democratic AGs working together. “‘It’s a working partnership. When we coordinate, we’re able to defend the constitutional balance, push back when a president overreaches, and make sure our residents aren’t left paying the price for unlawful decisions coming out of Washington.’”

Key highlights: 

• “The lawsuits are part of a coordinated legal strategy by Democratic AGs in 22 states and the District of Columbia to resist the ever-widening power of the executive branch.”
• “But for most of the coming year, the [Democratic] party will be relying on AG court challenges as their main venue to take on Trump.”

• “The state AGs have brought cases over Trump’s tariffs and National Guard deployments. They’ve also fought cuts to federal research, education programs, food assistance, disaster recovery, health care and housing. And they say it’s their job to maintain core civil rights protections as well as stick up for the people in their state who, they argue, are harmed by the whims of the president’s executive orders.”

• “‘None of the institutions in our government have been built to respond and react to the scale and speed of the destruction that’s being wrought by the Trump administration,’ New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez told Source New Mexico.”
• “Since the beginning of 2025, the attorneys general have toured the country on multistate listening tours and have touted their accomplishments on progressive legal podcasts. They’ve won 40 of the 51 resolved cases, according to a tracker from the Progressive State Leaders Committee.”
• “But the attorney general coalition serves as ‘a coordinated, quick-moving and high-capacity force protecting the rule of law, federal funding streams, and people’s rights,’ said Jonathan Miller, chief program officer of the Public Rights Project…”
• “Democratic AGs began filing their multistate lawsuits the day after Trump took office, challenging the president’s executive order ending birthright citizenship. The immediate legal action was intended to send a clear message to the Trump administration that state attorneys general will ‘stand up for our residents and their basic constitutional rights,’ New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement at the time.”
• “Rayfield said some days their work aims to build an emergency firewall to halt unlawful presidential actions — such as deploying the National Guard. Other days, it’s more targeted, fact-driven litigation designed to keep money, benefits and services flowing to states.”
• “‘This is not what I get up every day wanting to do,’ [Arizona AG Kris] Mayes told Cronkite News outside the Supreme Court, after Gutman argued the tariff case. ‘But if Donald Trump decides to violate the Constitution, violate statute, or harm the people of Arizona, I’m going to file that lawsuit.’”
• “After Trump’s 2024 election, Democratic attorneys general began meeting almost daily over Zoom to prepare their legal approach for a second term. This time around, they had a better sense for what was coming because it was outlined in Project 2025, the conservative blueprint that has shaped much of the Trump administration’s agenda so far.”
• “Attorneys general in more progressive states say their actions during the current administration have kept their states from losing billions of dollars in federal funds that would have otherwise been blocked for schools, public health, domestic violence prevention and other services.”
• “In Oregon, it’s an estimated $4.5 billion, Rayfield said. Arizona estimates it has held on to $1.5 billion. In California, it’s $168 billion.”
• “Attorneys general are prepared in 2026 to monitor and enforce their courtroom victories, Rayfield said.”
• “‘That isn’t just a legal win — it’s a safety win,’ Rayfield said. ‘The president cannot use federalization as a shortcut to move troops into American cities without lawful cause. That matters for Portland, and it matters for every state watching what happened here.’”

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