WA leads, joins 5 lawsuits against Trump: ‘This person doesn’t want to follow our laws’
Washington state’s top lawyer has been busy.
Since President Donald Trump’s second term began Jan. 20, the office of Attorney General Nick Brown has announced five multi-state lawsuits against the federal administration. Washington is leading two legal challenges and participating in three others.
Brown’s predecessor, current Gov. Bob Ferguson, famously filed nearly 100 lawsuits against the Trump administration during the president’s first term. That institutional experience, in addition to the state’s talent pool and resources, make Washington “uniquely suited to do this work,” Brown told McClatchy in a phone interview.
In many ways, the actions that Trump has taken so far have been expected, Brown said. Much of what the Republican commander-in-chief spoke about on the campaign trail he’s done, including clamping down on immigration.
But Brown said that other things have surprised him about Trump 2.0.
“This is a person who doesn’t want to follow our laws, he doesn’t believe in checks and balances, and we have a United States Congress that lets him do it,” the Democrat said. “So I’m surprised by the disdain that he has for our traditions and our laws, and I’m surprised by the acquiescence of Republican leadership across the country.”
Some political observers have painted Washington as a leader in the ,, /blue resistance against Trump’s deep-red agenda. Brown said that isn’t his goal. To him, it’s about protecting people’s rights — regardless of who’s occupying the White House.
Trump sparked controversy Feb. 15 by posting on X (formerly Twitter): “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”
Brown’s online reply?
“Bookmarking this for the next case we file.”
Here’s a roundup of Washington state’s Trump-related lawsuits as of Feb. 25.
Transgender health care
Washington filed a multi-state federal lawsuit Feb. 7 against Trump’s executive order to slash funding to medical institutions that offer gender-affirming care to transgender youth. The following week a federal judge temporarily paused Trump’s order, one that Brown had blasted as “clearly illegal and unusually cruel.”
Brown said Washington enjoys a long history of advocating for civil rights, particularly for LGBTQ+ residents.
“We also have one of the nation’s leading health-care providers of transgender care in the University of Washington and a number of other facilities here,” he told McClatchy. “So I thought it was very important to lead on an issue that was fairly blatantly coercive by the Trump administration.”
Elon Musk and DOGE
Washington joined a landmark multi-state lawsuit Feb. 13 to challenge the power given to Trump adviser and billionaire X owner Elon Musk, whom the president picked to lead the new federal Department of Government Efficiency. Musk wasn’t elected or Senate-confirmed, which Brown and company believe violates the U.S. Constitution’s appointments clause.
The federal government argued in a Feb. 17 court filing that Musk is neither an employee, nor the head, of DOGE. The next day a U.S. district judge rejected plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order but suggested a possibly favorable view of the merits of their argument, as noted by Just Security’s Trump litigation tracker.
“The parties have proposed briefing schedules on the preliminary injunction and the States are seeking leave for expedited discovery,” a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office later added via email.
Eroding birthright citizenship
Washington is spearheading a multi-state legal challenge to Trump’s push to end birthright citizenship for people born in the U.S. to non-citizen parents.
“I thought it was important to lead on that issue because of its importance to the people in the state of Washington, because of our track record and history of working on issues defending the rights of undocumented people in this state,” Brown told McClatchy.
On Jan. 23, two days after the suit was filed, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against Trump’s directive. After more legal back-and-forth, a U.S. appeals court on Feb. 19 rebuffed Trump’s emergency bid to ban birthright citizenship.
Biomedical and public-health research
Washington also has joined a Feb. 10 multi-state case challenging the cuts and freezes to grant-funding streams that support the National Institutes of Health, Brown said. His office has blasted Trump for trying to defund public-health innovation and medical research.
“We’ve got some really important providers here in the University of Washington and Washington State University that do life-saving research,” the attorney general said. “And again, (this) was done in total disregard to the Congress’s funding authority.”
A federal judge blocked the medical research-funding cuts in February. On Feb. 21, she extended that temporary halt.
Federal funding freeze
Washington on Jan. 28 joined another multi-state lawsuit over Trump’s freezing of federal financial assistance. On Feb. 25, nearly a month later, a federal judge opted to continue blocking Trump’s pause on federal aid.
Brown has defended against social-media flak over these lawsuits, with critics alleging that he’s too focused on Trump at the expense of the state’s residents. But he argues that federal actions are harming Washingtonians.
For example, the federal freeze jeopardized funding meant to support law enforcement and veterans’ health care in Washington, he said.
“Every single case we brought, in my mind, is because of the impact on Washington,” he said. “And so when people say, ‘You’re only focused on D.C.,’ that’s bulls**t. They just don’t get it.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2025 at 12:19 PM.
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