From left to right, Democratic state Attorneys General Kwame Raoul of Illinois, Andrea Campbell of Massachusetts, Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Matthew J. Platkin of New Jersey speak before Democratic lawmakers on both the Senate and House Judiciary committees on Monday, June 23, 2025 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Screenshot from House Committee on the Judiciary livestream feed)

WASHINGTON — Democratic state attorneys general vowed Monday on Capitol Hill to continue legal challenges against President Donald Trump’s “outrageous overreach” through executive orders to strip birthright citizenship, impose staggering global tariffs, thwart lifesaving medical research and more.

Attorneys General Keith Ellison of Minnesota, Matthew J. Platkin of New Jersey, Andrea Campbell of Massachusetts and Kwame Raoul of Illinois spoke before Democrats on both the Senate and House Judiciary committees during a special “spotlight forum” hosted by minority party lawmakers.

The top state law enforcement officers and their other blue state counterparts have mounted legal challenges against Trump’s directives they argue threaten their states’ economies and deprive constituents of their rights.

The lawmakers have racked up wins in the federal courts to reinstate the jobs of fired federal workers, restore congressionally appropriated funding for health initiatives and nonprofits and protect citizenship for babies born in the United States to all parents, including immigrants.

Trump, his administration officials and rank-and-file Republicans have attacked federal district judges on social media for rulings they didn’t like, and are mulling legislative action to yank power from the judiciary.

“We’ve been punching above our weight and playing a vital role in this moment,” Campbell said.

More than 20 Democratic state AGs are now awaiting the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion on whether it will uphold the states’ lower court victories protecting birthright citizenship.

30 lawsuits

Rep. Jamie Raskin, top Democrat on the House Committee on the Judiciary, praised the AGs for their role among the hundreds of lawsuits challenging Trump’s unilateral actions.

The administration is facing 328 lawsuits from any number of plaintiffs, and at least 30 from Democratic state AGs, according to Raskin’s count. Numerous trackers online keep pace with the latest developments in the dozens upon dozens of cases launched since Trump began his second term.

“Federal courts across the land have remarkably issued 197 preliminary injunctions or temporary restraining orders against this reign of lawlessness,” Raskin, of Maryland, said.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, blamed Trump’s executive orders for “having damaging effects on the rights, liberties and pocketbooks of everybody.”

“In this disturbing environment, many Americans have no greater ally than their states’ attorneys general,” said Durbin, of Illinois.

Those on the panel told the lawmakers that standing up for Congress has been “at the core” of many of their legal challenges.

“When we say he can’t act like a king, it means he can’t take actions that you have done and (were) signed into law by a president, and decide on a whim that he wants to, say, convert a Department of Transportation highway program into an immigration enforcement program,” Platkin said, referring to a June 19 victory for 20 Democratic-led states whose federal transit dollars were threatened.

Ellison said Trump’s orders that threaten states’ federal funding are “bullying, plain and simple.”

“We will endure. This committee can count on state AGs, the ones who believe in liberty and justice for all, to continue to fight. None of us are tired, and we can do this longer than they can do this,” Ellison said.

Medical research hit

For roughly two-and-a-half hours, Democratic lawmakers discussed the ways their constituents could be or have been harmed by Trump’s record number of executive orders since Jan. 20.

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania thanked the AGs for “working on behalf of all Americans to hold this administration accountable.”

Scanlon, who represents the Philadelphia area, said her district was particularly impacted by Trump’s order to pull federal medical research dollars, including widespread funding from the National Institutes of Health.

“My constituents are reporting a whole range of negative consequences. … Participants are being told they can no longer receive the treatment, that for many, was their last best hope. Accomplished research personnel are being laid off, threatening their livelihoods, and kneecapping our medical sector’s ability to innovate,” Scanlon said.

Rep. Deborah Ross, whose district includes North Carolina’s “Research Triangle” — the location of three major research universities in Durham, Raleigh and Chapel Hill — thanked Campbell for her role in a legal victory to restore NIH funding.

Ross recalled a woman in her district reaching out to her office asking when a medical study she was part of would begin again.

“When you guys get these amazing injunctions, you have to show both that the Trump administration has violated the law, likelihood of success on the merits, and you have to show irreparable harm. And just this woman who I got a message from is a demonstration of this irreparable harm,” Ross said.

Illinois state Attorney General Raoul lamented that his GOP counterparts have not joined the lawsuits, particularly on health funding. Raoul told the panel that his father, a doctor, had died of prostate cancer. Years later, Raoul received a similar diagnosis but survived.

“We should continue to advance in research. When we decided to take action on this, it’s a very personal one to me,” Raoul said.

“This does not just impact us in blue states, right? There are research institutions in the red states that are impacted as well. I would wish, I beg upon my colleagues who serve as AGs on the other side of the aisle to join us in this fight, because their institutions would otherwise suffer as well.”

This post was originally authored and published by Ashley Murray from Washington State Standard via RSS Feed. Join today to get your news feed on Nationwide Report®.