Using Microsoft Teams, the resistance meets every day.
Every day at 4 p.m. ET, the 23 Democratic state attorneys general gather for a private 30-minute video conference to plot their resistance to the Trump administration. They discuss whether Elon Musk should be regarded as a legitimate government agency or an unapproved outsider, and they provide updates on the seven lawsuits they have pending in federal court. They plan their responses in advance, taking advantage of time zone variations to get more done in a day.
Trump 2.0 has been a disaster for the American left. Neither the 2017 huge protests nor the generosity of progressive benefactors have materialized. Many Democratic governors are wary of instigating confrontations with the president, and minority Democrats in Congress have been intimidated by Trump’s claims of presidential power. Legislators have mostly caved to pressure from advocacy groups and labor unions in their fight against Trump.
Then there are the AGs, who consider themselves the people’s final line of defense against the president. The president’s plans to revoke birthright citizenship, freeze government financing, and cut off money for medical research have all been temporarily halted by their multi-state challenges. The 23 state attorneys general who have joined forces to defend the ACA have filed their sixth amicus brief this week in a lawsuit against the Trump administration. Regarding that case and others it is defending, the US Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment.
“The Democratic AGs are the only group of people who are united and working to prevent some of these unconstitutional actions from continuing,” Hawaii attorney general Anne Lopez said in an interview.
Their efforts are an improvement over Trump 1.0, when plaintiffs frequently worked together with only a few hours’ notice and Democratic state officials coordinated reactively. During that time, they had significant legal triumphs, but they were very careful not to undermine each other’s cases by having contradicting verdicts from various courts.
From what we can tell from conversations with previous and current Democratic attorneys general as well as their staff, it seems like the generals are now putting into action the strategy they had been working on over the past year, prior to Trump’s reelection. They argue that coordinating a response to Trump’s policy blitzkrieg after it had already started would have been too late.
Along with their other constitutional responsibilities, reacting to Trump has become a full-time job for several of them. Without jeopardizing their other work investigating Medicaid fraud or prosecuting tobacco companies, all of them are worried that they will need to ask state legislatures for additional money and greater strength to keep up their national fight against Trump.
“We talk each and every day these days, and you’d think we start to get tired of it, but we’ve just grown closer over time,” said Kathy Jennings, attorney general of Delaware. “And between now and the end of the next four years, our bond will deepen.”
The little financial institution
While driving around Seattle, his hometown, Bob Ferguson took notes. Before entering politics, he worked for a big corporate legal firm. Ferguson was no stranger to the lively gatherings hosted by the Democratic Attorneys General Association, where he had met with some of the most influential state-level regulators and law enforcement officials in the nation.
Ferguson, who was starting his last year of his third term as Washington’s attorney general, had a momentous occasion during the conference in February 2024. With or without victory in his gubernatorial race, he would leave his position as the country’s sole remaining Democratic attorney general from the beginning of Trump’s first term.
Ferguson intended to utilize his speaking slot, which is normally reserved for the attorney general of the host state, to issue a stern warning to his colleagues: They were unprepared for what was to come.
Using his microphone as he ambulated across the Grand Hyatt stage, he recalled the tumultuous first months of 2017 when a new president’s gut-based policies violated civil rights and the separation of powers.
Ferguson pleaded with them, reminding them that the 2024 election was still nine months away, but that they should begin making plans for the lawsuits they would bring if Trump were to run again. In 2016, in response to Trump’s campaign-trail provocation over a Muslim travel ban, Ferguson’s office prepared a constitutional challenge, just in case, he remembered. A week into Trump’s presidency, his administration was able to submit a brief opposing the policy in just three days after the order was issued.
Ferguson warned the gathered lawyers to “assume he’s going to do it — no matter how outlandish it may be — and prepare for that” in response to whatever the candidate said or articulated while campaigning.
half motivational address, half tutorial on appellate strategies—that was the speech. In terms of resources, Ferguson’s advice was paramount; he adamantly stated that attorneys general should start lobbying their states for funding to employ additional attorneys immediately. The president would be in town on January 20, so they had to get ready too. Prior to this, Trump’s work was frequently careless, which allowed for simpler arguments. According to him, that won’t work this time.
