Washington, DC – In an interview with The Boston Globe, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell says she’s been readying her office for any expected legal battles against the Trump administration if they violate the law. AG Campbell expressed her commitment to protecting vulnerable populations that are being targeted while also holding bad actors accountable.

Key highlights: 

• “Her office is staffing up and adding people to divisions expected to tackle issues on which Trump has pledged to pursue sweeping changes, such as immigration and LGBTQ rights…Staff attorneys are studying Trump’s first term actions and strategizing with other Democratic attorneys general.”

• “‘We have the tools to take on any type of threat, and we’re not afraid to use those tools’…There is ‘real fear and anxiety in Massachusetts’ about what Trump has promised to do, she said. ‘We’ve been doing incredible proactive work, and where we have to get reactive, we will,’ she added, ‘but we want our folks to understand that we’re prepared, we’re ready, and we will do everything we can to protect them.’” 
• “During Trump’s first term, Democratic attorneys general took on more high-profile roles as the statewide officials best positioned to directly take on his administration in court.” 
• “‘I am accountable to the people who put me here,’ Campbell said of whether her office has the power to resist such a federal policy. “The residents of Massachusetts do not stand for policies that are inhumane … so I’m going to stand up against, whether it’s the federal government, a corporation, an individual, anyone who would harm the interest of my residents.’”
• “Campbell has pointed previously to several tools, in addition to legal action, her office plans to deploy against Trump’s possible policy moves, such as upending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program…Those tools include granting legal aid organizations resources to help vulnerable residents know their rights, combating misinformation in training from her office, and filing legislation intended to defend Massachusetts residents…”
• “Campbell added she will expand divisions expected to need additional resources to both ‘respond to any harmful or cruel attacks on Massachusetts, but also to fill the gap that the federal government may leave vacant,’ such as the gun violence prevention and consumer protection divisions. 
• “She pointed to the Reproductive Justice Unit she created in 2023 that, in addition to handling abortion-related care, also handles legal work related to LGBTQ protections — another area she expects will be a primary target of the Trump administration.”

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