(The Center Square) – Speaking at the Washington State Labor Council’s convention in Vancouver on Tuesday, state Attorney General Nick Brown simultaneously bragged about and lamented his administration’s leading role in numerous lawsuits against the Trump administration.
“Six months in office, we’ve filed 29 lawsuits against the administration,” he told the crowd. “For a little bit of context, at this point in 2017, Washington state … at this point, six months into the first Trump administration, we had filed four lawsuits. So, to be at No. 29 six months in shows both the work that our agency is doing, but also the size and the scale of the challenge.”
Brown had previously noted that “part of what I also get to do from time to time is sue the president of the United States.”
The audience responded with loud cheers and clapping.
“I appreciate the applause, I really do,” Brown said. “I’m somewhat saddened by it as well. It saddens me that so much of my job in this day and age is protecting Americans from their president.”
Brown’s administration has filed numerous lawsuits challenging policies implemented by the administration of President Donald Trump. These lawsuits address various issues, including birthright citizenship, public benefits and immigration, disaster mitigation funding, health care access and the Affordable Care Act, restrictions on federal funding to states, scientific research and data, and election procedures.
Some state lawmakers and others have claimed that Brown’s numerous lawsuits are politically motivated and aimed at obstructing the Trump administration’s agenda rather than addressing legitimate legal grievances.
“But I truly believe that my foundational role, my important role, and the reason that I am separately elected, is to be a lawyer for the people of the state of Washington, to advocate for you, to be the voice of people all across this state, whether they like it or not,” the attorney general said.
Brown took on critics of his litigious approach to the Trump administration, saying the top complaint he gets from some of his constituents is his focus on national issues and “spending all this money, wasting taxpayer resources on this Trump stuff.”
He explained his rationale for filing lawsuits.
“And first and foremost, every single lawsuit that we bring against the administration is done under the premise of is that illegal or unconstitutional, and does it harm Washingtonians? And if those two things are present, then we will be involved,” Brown explained. “If it doesn’t harm Washington, I’m not interested.”
That approach, according to Brown, is paying off.
“The other thing that I would highlight for you in each of the cases that we have now brought to protect vital funding for Washington,” he said. “We have successfully protected $14 billion of money that was coming to Washington.”
Brown continued: “So the money that we are protecting is adding vital resources and protecting vital resources here in Washington.”
