Tariff, Sue, Repeat

This Week in Democracy

• Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued the Trump administration for withholding more than $250 million intended for the state’s Medicaid program. In addition to violating federal law and the Constitution, holding up the money is political retribution by the administration against the state’s leaders, Ellison argues. Vice President JD Vance announced last week that the administration would withhold the money, citing unproven allegations of waste and abuse.

  ➡️ MORE: What’s Breaking Through About Politically Motivated Cuts to Social Services

• Officials from 24 states sued the Trump administration, asking a court to block the president’s new tariffs from going into effect and order the administration to refund any money collected because of them. In a separate case, a judge ordered the administration to begin refunding the more than $130 billion collected under the tariffs that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down last month.

  ➡️ READ: Sharing the Facts About the Limits of Presidential Power on Tariffs

• President Trump announced that he would nominate U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, an Election Denier, to be the next secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, replacing Kristi Noem. Members of Congress from both parties lambasted Noem in hearings this week over her mismanagement of the department, with a particular focus on the surges of federal immigration agents into cities across the country, the agency’s withholding of disaster relief funding, and the misuse of the department’s funding.
• Former Justice Department official Lindsey Halligan is under investigation by the Florida Bar, according to reports. The investigation could result in Halligan, who pursued investigations and charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, losing her law license. 

  Justice Department officials proposed a new policy this week that would limit the ability of state bar associations to conduct such investigations into its lawyers. Joyce Vance, a former federal prosecutor and a member of States United’s Bipartisan Advisory Board, wrote on social media that Attorney General Pam Bondi has no authority to suspend such investigations.

• In court filings, the Trump administration said that it would abandon efforts to defend the president’s executive orders that sought to punish law firms associated with his political rivals—but reversed course the next day. Judges blocked each of the executive orders targeting law firms. The Justice Department is appealing four of the cases.

State of the States

In Arizona, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes asked a federal judge to dismiss the Justice Department’s lawsuit that seeks to force him to hand over voters’ private information.

The motion, filed by Attorney General Kris Mayes, points out that Arizona law explicitly forbids the release of the data that the Justice Department is seeking, that the department’s request violates federal privacy law, and that state election officials already conduct the kind of maintenance on voter rolls that the department claims it is trying to do.

➡️ READ: Sharing the Facts About Federal Efforts to Compile State Voter Data

In Minnesota, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced that her office is investigating 17 instances of “potentially unlawful behavior” by federal agents in her state and asked the public to submit any evidence of such behavior to her office.

“I’ve said this repeatedly and I want to be clear. There is no absolute immunity for federal agents,” Moriarty said.

Moriarty is also investigating the killings of two Americans, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, by federal agents.

Watch This

States United CEO Joanna Lydgate joined Boston Public Radio to discuss how election officials are preparing for this year’s midterm elections, including for potential interference from the Trump administration.