From Trump’s use of the military on civilian streets to tariffs to birthright citizenship, California AG Bonta has been involved in litigation at the center of our national conversation.
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California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) has filed 34 lawsuits against the Trump administration during the last six months. Among other issues, Bonta has sued to defend state funding, oppose tariffs, and protect the constitutional right to birthright citizenship.
“If he stops breaking the law, we'll stop suing,” Bonta said in a 31-minute interview.
Even though many of the lawsuits involve issues that typically cut across partisan divides, Bonta says he has never once seen one of his GOP counterparts join any litigation.
“Not once has any Republican attorney general decided that they will stand up for their constituents in their state when federal funding that is owed to their state is withheld or the rights and freedoms and constitutional protections of their people are attacked, like when there's been an attack on birthright citizenship, or the fundamental right to vote, the right from which all other rights flow,” Bonta said.
Bonta’s latest lawsuit opposes a Trump administration policy requiring proof of citizenship to access public benefits like domestic violence shelters and Head Start programs. For nearly 30 years, no Democratic and Republican president has imposed such a hurdle for these services.
In the interview, Bonta explains why the Trump administration’s “cruel” barrier for immigrants might also shut down many programs benefiting all residents, including working mothers, children, and citizens.
A coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general filed the complaint, but Bonta suspects some of his Republican counterparts “secretly” cheered from the sidelines in similar cases.
“When we stopped, for example, three trillion dollars worth of federal funding from being withheld unlawfully and unconstitutionally, they benefited,” Bonta said, referring to AGs from red states. “They got the funding; we did the work.”
Bonta notes that might change in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Trump v. CASA, reining in nationwide injunctions.
Without nationwide relief, the refusal of GOP attorneys general to join litigation could fall down on their constituents.
“It is cowardly and craven and feckless and very unfortunate for the constituents in red states who deserve better,” Bonta said. “Americans shouldn't only have their constitutional rights protected or the federal funding that they are owed come to them if they have an attorney general who has the courage to stand up for their rights. They deserve better.”
In the video, Bonta discusses California’s upcoming trial on whether Trump’s use of the military on the streets of Los Angeles violated the Posse Comitatus Act. He also discusses why Trump’s tariffs fall particularly hard on the Golden State.
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