Washington, DC – As Donald Trump continues to violate the rule of law and wreak havoc on the lives of millions of Americans, Democratic attorneys general have been working around the clock to stop the administration from advancing his unconstitutional policies. In just the past week, Democratic AGs made headlines for filing five lawsuits in rapid succession against the administration’s attempts to eliminate key federal agencies, gut health funding, and implement voter suppression policies.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta took to MSNBC’s PoliticsNation with Rev. Al Sharpton to discuss the lawsuit and Trump’s unlawful attempt to disenfranchise millions of voters with the stroke of his pen.

Key highlights from PoliticsNation:

• “He thinks he can violate the Constitution. He can’t. He thinks he’s above the law. He’s not. He does not have the authority to issue this executive order. He can’t do unlawful things. He can’t exercise power he does not have…
• “And the key part of this area of the law is Article 1 of the United States Constitution, the elections clause, which talks about the fact that states have the power and the authority to determine the time, place, and manner of their elections, or Congress has authority as well. But the executive branch, the president, does not have this authority. So he is way out of his lane here.”
• “We have to be vigilant and focused on making sure that we protect the rights of individuals in our already secure election system.”

Through constant monitoring and extensive prep work, AG Bonta and his office are just one of the Dem AG offices who have been quick to file suit in opposition of Trump’s unconstitutional executive orders.

LA Times’ Kevin Rector spoke with AG Bonta’s office about the work they’ve done to stand up to  Trump, writing, “But since Trump’s January inauguration, attorneys in Bonta’s office — and in the offices of Democratic attorneys general nationwide — have been in an all-out sprint to keep up and push back. They’ve been carefully planning for even longer…The result has been a rapid-fire slate of lawsuits challenging Trump’s policies…”

Key highlights:

• “‘If they decide they’re going to stop breaking the law, then we’ll stop filing lawsuits,’ [AG Bonta] said. ‘It’s that simple.’”

• “California sued the first Trump administration about 120 times over four years, often with success.”

• “Bonta said his office is not working to assert a liberal agenda, but to uphold the Constitution and other federal law — and that it is the Trump administration setting the pace for lawsuits.”
• “‘I think it’s actually very empowering for us to be able to be the tip of the spear in the fight to prevent the worst-case scenarios,’” Attorney Michael Newman said.
• “Bonta said Trump’s ‘blitz of executive orders’ was clearly intended to create ‘shock and awe,’ to ‘flood the zone’ and create ‘confusion and chaos’… But his team was ready, he said.”

• “‘We’re active, we’re organized, we’re making a difference. We’re stopping their unlawfulness. We’re standing up for the rule of law and the Constitution, and they don’t like it, so they want to reduce our power and influence,’ he [Newman] said.”
• “‘There’s no better feeling in the world,’ he [Newman] said, ‘than stopping an abuse of power based on the legal principles and strategy that you have developed.’”

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