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backing a quickly rejected lawsuit from Texas Attor- cheerfully filing lawsuits against President Trump’s
ney General Ken Paxton at the U.S. Supreme Court administration for political gain,” she said. “I think
aiming to overturn election results in four states. it’s important that, as the chief legal officers, we not
Trump also filed a motion to intervene in the case. file a lawsuit because of politics, but rather because
Healey said the sheer volume of Democratic law- it is the rule of law that is being violated.”
suits has to do with unlawful actions by the Trump Even with the increased politicization, it’s not im-
administration. She said that, during the Obama ad- possible for the attorneys general to work together
ministration, many Republican lawsuits, including across the aisle: 48 states and jurisdictions joined
those by then-Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, together to file a lawsuit against Facebook, alleging
had political motivations. the tech giant violated antitrust laws by buying its
“Perhaps in some instances, they were about seek- competitors.
ing to abridge some breach of executive authority. Still, Nolette said he’s concerned the partisan-
But I think if you look at the vast majority of them, ship that’s characterized the attorneys general suits
and you look at the comments and the context of against different administrations could start im-
what was happening, you’ll see that there were any pacting that work.
number of efforts to sue Obama because he was “One thing that has worried me about the in-
Obama,” Healey said. creasing polarization amongst AGs, as they’ve
“In contrast, our efforts have been about de- gotten more aggressive in pushing back on the ad-
fending the Constitution and the rule of law, and ministration and getting involved in amicus briefs
protecting the residents in our states,” Healey add- in the Supreme Court and lower courts on high
ed. profile issues—my concern is that this is going to
“I think that what we did was not antagonistic,” trickle down and start bleeding into the tradition-
Racine added. “I think it was pro-rule of law, pro- ally bipartisan work,” Nolette said, pointing to joint
check and balance, and entirely consistent with investigations on behalf of consumers and targeting
what was necessary when you had a president who corporations.
was clearly acting without regard to law.” ¦

Rutledge suggested the same applied to Dem- Jacqueline Thomsen, based in Washington, is a
ocrats. “It’s important that the lawsuits not be reporter covering D.C. federal courts and the legal
frivolous, and many of my Democratic colleagues side of politics. Contact her at jathomsen@alm.
come from angry litigious backgrounds and like com and follow her on Twitter @jacq_thomsen.

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