Democratic state attorneys general are helping to lead the resistance against impeached president Donald Trump and his increasingly lawless regime. They've filed an unprecedented number of challenges to some of his most destructive rules and initiatives. There have been 103 multistate challenges to the administration in the past three years.
They are suing on behalf of constituents to preserve environmental laws, protect abortion rights, protect immigrant rights, preserve safety net and health care programs—essentially, to create a bulwark against Trump's path of destruction in every area of public life. "Every time this guy breaks the law, we take him to court," Xavier Becerra, California's Democratic attorney general, told The Hill. California has led 31 multistate suits and is party to 25 others. Having multistate suits, Becerra said, "adds strength, it certainly adds value, and it shows unity. It demonstrates that the unlawful action that the Trump administration is looking to take impacts more than just one state."
"We've established pretty strong relationships with many of our attorney colleagues, because they’ve worked together so much,” Becerra said. "Usually, we find partners who are interested in working on the same issue.”
They've got a phenomenal winning record thus far. Among the cases that have been finished, they've won 80%. That compares to a 60% win rate by Republican states that brought suits against the Obama administration, and also probably has something to do with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's singular obsession with flooding the courts with Trump judges.