In summary
California is suing the new Trump administration to protect birthright citizenship, stop the mass firing of federal workers and sustain funding for health and science research.
California is in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump’s efforts to re-imagine the power of his office, touching on a vast array of issues that are core to the state’s ability to fund itself.
The Newsom administration is fighting back, having filed dozens of lawsuits contesting the Trump administration’s executive orders, agency decisions and even laws that Trump himself signed.
The lawsuits have ranged from seeking to restore federal funding — including blocking attempts to freeze $168 billion in federal funding to the state — to civil liberties and bedrock constitutional rights like birthright citizenship.
Nearly all of the lawsuits are filed together with at least a dozen other states led by Democrats. Generally, they seek to argue that the Trump administration’s actions are unconstitutional. The arguments often say that Trump exceeded the powers Congress permitted under a specific law. Another common argument is that the Trump administration didn’t follow specific procedures for changing a policy in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
Several times courts have ordered the Trump administration to comply with court orders after the state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, wrote to the courts that federal agencies were still withholding funding.
California officials used the courts to defend the state during Trump’s first administration, suing the federal government at least 123 times and winning two out of every three cases. The state’s Democratic leaders began preparing for new cases months before Trump took office by writing briefs and setting aside tens of millions of dollars for expected court fights.
Now, in Trump’s second term, the state is filing lawsuits at almost double the pace of his first administration. As of Nov. 26, California had filed 48 lawsuits in the first 44 weeks of Trump’s second term.
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