BOSTON — As President Donald Trump continues his attempted remake of the federal government, many of his efforts have run into roadblocks in the form of state Attorneys General and the courts.

Among those leading the charge against Trump’s broad-stroke rewriting of the status quo between the states and the federal government is Massachusetts AG Andrea Joy Campbell, who has inserted the Bay State into more than half-a-dozen fights with the 47th President’s administration.

According to Campbell, it is her job as attorney general to look after the interests of the Commonwealth, and that includes preserving the rights of constituents and protecting businesses and the economy from an out-of-control executive branch.

“As attorney general, it is my responsibility to protect our residents and state economy and hold every entity, including the President, accountable for harming them and violating the law. I will continue to collaborate with my counterparts across the country – just as we did before the Trump Administration – to protect our consumers and create economic opportunity, all while protecting our constitutional rights and upholding the rule of law,” she told the Herald in a statement.

Here’s a rundown of the cases and court actions Campbell and her team have taken or participated in through the first month of Trump’s second term.

NIH Indirect Costs Cap, Massachusetts v. Trump

On February 10 Campbell co-led 21 other attorneys general suing Trump over his plan to cut “indirect cost” reimbursements to research universities. Without those reimbursements, Campbell and the other AG’s maintain, “these institutions’ cutting-edge work to cure and treat human disease will grind to a halt.”

Trump’s National Institutes of Health, which administers the reimbursements, on February 7, announced it would cut already agreed upon reimbursements by 15% across the board. The plan, they said, would ensure that NIH “grant funds are, to the maximum extent possible, spent on furthering its mission.”

This would directly impact Massachusetts, “the medical research capital of the country,” Campbell said when filing the suit.

“We are the proud home of nation-leading universities and research institutions that save lives, create jobs, and help secure a better future. We will not allow the Trump Administration to unlawfully undermine our economy, hamstring our competitiveness, or play politics with our public health,” she said.

Birthright Citizenship, New Jersey v. Trump

One of Trump’s earliest executive orders indicated his administration plans to interpret the Fourteenth Amendment such that the children of immigrants residing in the U.S. without lawful presence are not automatically granted citizenship, as has been the rule for the last 127 years.

In this case, Campbell joined 17 other states, the District of Columbia and the City and County of San Francisco in suing Trump in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to prevent upwards of 150,000 babies from being born into statelessness in the next year.

In filing the suit, Campbell said that “President Trump does not have the authority to take away constitutional rights, and we will fight against his effort to overturn our Constitution and punish innocent babies born in Massachusetts.”

Trump has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. is the only country in the world that allows birthright citizenship. That’s not true. Both Canada and Mexico join the U.S., along with more than two dozen, mostly western-hemisphere nations in granting citizenship to any person born within their jurisdiction.

On February 13, United States District Judge Leo Sorokin, issued a preliminary injunction blocking Trump’s executive order, noting “what the Constitution has conferred neither the Congress, nor the Executive, nor the Judiciary, nor all three in concert, may strip away.”

Federal judges in New Hampshire, Maryland and Seattle have issued similar rulings.

OMB Memorandum on Funding Freeze, New York v. Trump

Trump’s Office of Management and Budget issued an internal memorandum ordering all federal loans and grants frozen. The resulting economic impact, Campbell and 22 attorneys general said in a lawsuit, would be devastating to Americans across the country.

“In Massachusetts, residents rely on federal funding for healthcare, childcare, education and jobs. President Trump’s action to pause federal aid is a reckless abuse of power that harms the very working people and families he promised to protect,” AG Campbell said when filing the suit.

The memorandum was rescinded, but the lawsuit continues after U.S. District Judge John McConnell found the administration had not fully complied with his order to unfreeze federal funding.

The Trump administration told the judge they were making “good-faith, diligent efforts to comply with the injunction across the broad spectrum of Federal financial assistance implicated by the Court’s Order,” but the AGs weren’t convinced, saying that “there is no world in which these scattershot outages” seen by state state agencies “can constitute compliance with this Court’s Order.”

DOGE, New York v. Trump

Campbell joined 19 other state AGs in asking a judge to block a new policy implemented by the Trump Administration that would have seen “special government employees” like Elon Musk allowed access to the confidential information maintained by the U.S. Treasury’s Bureau of Fiscal Services.

Giving Musk access to every U.S. citizen’s “state, corporate and personal information, including bank account details, tax information, and Social Security numbers,” and allowing his Department of Government Efficiency to “to block federal funds flowing by law to states and programs providing health care, childcare and other critical services,” would be “impermissible,” according to Campbell’s office.

New York Federal Judge Paul A. Engelmayer imposed a temporary restraining order on the Treasury Department on February 9, and ordered any records made by DOGE employees destroyed. On Friday, a preliminary injunction sought by the AGs was granted, and “unauthorized employees” of the government barred from accessing treasury systems.

“While President Trump attempts to give his billionaire friends limitless power, my colleagues and I will keep showing up in court to protect the state, our residents, and the programs they depend on. This order is a victory that stops Elon Musk and DOGE from accessing and misusing sensitive, private data while we continue fighting their gross abuse of power,” Campbell said in a statement.

Amicus curiae briefs filed

Campbell’s office has also participated in several cases as a “friend of the court,” as other entities engage in their own legal fights against Trump’s plans.

Massachusetts and 19 other states filed briefs in support of a lawsuit looking to block Trump’s executive order banning transgender people from serving in the U.S. military. A hearing over a preliminary injunction sought by the AGs and a group of transgender troops and recruits was held early last week, but U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes has not yet ruled on the matter.

On Friday, Campbell co-led a coalition of 18 states in filing an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit filed by the group Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, or PFLAG. That group is attempting to stop a Trump executive order which would see federal funding stripped from medical institutions that provide gender affirming care.

Trump’s plan to offer federal employees “deferred resignations” is the subject of a lawsuit by the unions representing many of those employees. Campbell and 20 other state AGs filed amicus briefs in support of the suit, contending it violates the Administrative Procedure Act. U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole, Jr., on February 12, ruled the plaintiffs unions lacked standing to sue and that his was not the proper jurisdiction for them to seek relief.

On Thursday, Campbell joined a coalition including 22 other state AGs in warning the courts about Trump Administration’s plans to defund and neuter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. CFPB employees were ordered to halt all work on February 9, and not begin any new work. The AGs contend that without the CFPB, there is no one watching the big banks to prevent another 2008-style financial disaster.

---------

©2025 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at bostonherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.