Trump agenda has states, advocacy groups girding for legal battles

Dive Brief:

California lawmakers will convene Dec. 2 in a special legislative session to bolster the state’s legal budget and defenses against an expected onslaught of new policy from a second Trump administration targeting reproductive rights, climate regulation and immigrants.
The governors of California, Illinois, New York and Washington spoke similarly this week about Trump’s election and the legal force they’re ready to expend in battling some of the administration’s plans, including using the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to detain and deport potentially millions of immigrants.
Multiple advocacy organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Human Rights Campaign and Democracy Forward, have vowed to litigate initiatives contained in Trump’s agenda and are using the anticipated legal battles to raise funds.

Dive Insight:

California sued the first Trump administration more than 120 times over climate policy, the Affordable Care Act and the state’s deferred enforcement program for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, according to the news publication Cal Matters.

“We learned a lot about former President Trump in his first term — he’s petty, vindictive, and will do what it takes to get his way no matter how dangerous the policy may be,” California Senate President pro Tempore Mike McGuire said in a news release from Newsom’s office. “California has come too far and accomplished too much to simply surrender and accept his dystopian vision for America.”

Beyond climate regulations and a vigorous effort against immigration, medical abortion is a particular area of possible legal conflict as Trump supporters expand on the landmark 2022 Supreme Court Dobbs ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, leading to abortion restrictions and bans in many states.

The Department of Justice could use the 1873 Comstock Act to criminalize the mailing of drugs used in medical abortions, which is among the policy prescriptions in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 document, which could play a role in setting policy for Trump’s second term.

In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced an Empire State Freedom Initiative task force to develop plans “to address any policy and regulatory threats that may emerge from a Trump Administration,” according to a press release from her office.

Civil rights, reproductive rights, immigration, gun safety and the environment are among subject areas where “New Yorkers are most likely to face threats from a Trump Administration,” Hochul said in the release. “We will work each and every day to defend Americans, no matter what this new administration throws at us,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in the statement.

Illinois Gov. Jay Pritzer also spoke in stark terms about efforts by the federal government to target groups of people or rights.

“To anyone who intends to come take away the freedom and opportunity and dignity of Illinoisans, I would remind you that a happy warrior is still a warrior,” Pritzker said Thursday at a news conference, according to the Chicago Tribune. “You come for my people, you come through me.”

The ACLU, which says it filed 434 legal challenges against the first Trump administration, has “a concrete plan to fight back” during a second term, Executive Director Anthony Romero said in a statement Wednesday. “When President-elect Trump comes for our communities, he’s gotta get through all of us.”

Democracy Forward, a group of lawyers that formed in 2017 to battle Trump in court, and says it filed more than 100 actions, is prepared for further litigation, President and CEO Skye Perryman said in a statement.

“Make no mistake: When the Trump-Vance administration breaks the law or violates the Constitution to the detriment of people and communities, Democracy Forward and our partners in the legal community are prepared to take the Trump-Vance administration to court,” Perryman said.

Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said the group will “use every tool at our disposal — from advocacy to education to litigation to campaigns — to protect our communities and advance progress where we can.”