WASHINGTON, DC – New York Attorney General Letitia James never backs down from holding Donald Trump or his administration accountable for trampling over the rule of law. And while Trump may continue his baseless attacks against AG James, that has not stopped her — nor her fellow Democratic attorneys general — from filing lawsuits to put an end to his lawlessness.  

In her recent article in The Nation, Joan Walsh writes, “In their quest to hold Trump accountable, James and her fellow Democratic AGs have become arguably even more important today than they were during Trump’s first term, when they boasted an 83 percent win rate in cases challenging the administration’s agenda. Since January, they have become the main actors holding the line against the administration’s unprecedented lawlessness.” 

Key highlights:
 

• “But the most effective and popular Democrat representing New York is the Brooklyn woman known as Tish—a former Legal Aid attorney, legislative aide, City Council member, and New York City public advocate—who was elected attorney general in 2018.” 
• “But James’s biggest claim to fame is as a fierce fighter against Trumpism.”
• “No attorney general in the country is battling President Donald Trump more proficiently—and drawing more of his fire—than James.”
• “When Trump was out of office, she brought the successful civil case charging him and his company with business fraud for alternately inflating and deflating the value of his assets in order to reduce property taxes and obtain favorable rates from banks and insurance companies. The case resulted in a $454 million fine, which Trump is appealing.”
• “‘Tish James and the other state AGs on the front lines of this fight are not only defending a Constitution and federal laws against a Supreme Leader and lawless autocrats,’ says Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD). ‘They are also showing the country what real attorneys general do by acting for the people and the rule of law instead of a right-wing political putsch.’”
• “James and her partner AGs have hit the president with a barrage of lawsuits that have temporarily halted some of his worst orders in the past seven months.”
• “Congressional Republicans, James says, ‘have just handed over their authority to the executive. They, too, are afraid of MAGA. And they’ve just conceded their constitutional authority…. And so our job [as attorneys general] is obviously trying to make change with these lawsuits, but also to organize and to have events like we had in Westchester.’”
• “While it may seem as though James and her fellow AGs emerged as legal freedom fighters overnight, in reality their efforts were months in the making. As James told me, the AGs—often working collectively under the umbrella of the Progressive State Leaders Committee—began meeting to discuss fighting a second Trump administration before the 2024 election.”
• “‘It was not the outcome that we expected, but it was something that we had to prepare for nonetheless,’ James told me three weeks after the Westchester town hall…”
• “‘And so we analyzed Project 2025 based on subject matter,’ she continued. ‘We looked at jurisdiction, we looked at standing, we looked at past practices, we looked at who had been active in certain areas, and we decided to assign our staffs different responsibilities based on possible cases. And we started preparing complaints and briefs.’”
• “But they often delay and complicate Trump’s agenda, and they are establishing a legal record for eventually upending it. Just as important, they are taking the fight to Trump and the administration with a boldness that is often missing on Capitol Hill.”
• “Even when there are setbacks, James says she isn’t discouraged, citing the AGs’ consistent victories in the lower courts.”
• “‘The courts have held up,’ James told me. ‘They’ve been one institution that has held up against fascism, against this consolidation of executive power, this reorganization of government. They’ve held up despite the threats and the harassment to the courts—to the point where judges have to get private security.’”
• “James shares the view that protests are going to be a crucial part of pushing back against Trump.”
• “That was classic Tish James: focused on the job at hand, ready to sacrifice in order to complete her tasks, and certain that, once she has prevailed, there will be more opportunities for New York’s badass attorney general.” 

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