Democratic attorneys general were plotting to take President Donald Trump to court before voters had even rendered their verdict, and a confidential document proves it.
A confidential agreement shows that at least 22 Democratic AGs began organizing a litigation network they dubbed the "Project for Federal Accountability" in April 2024, nearly seven months before Trump defeated Kamala Harris. Seven signed on April 28, 2024. Thirteen others joined in May or June. Not a single Republican attorney general appears on the document.
Read More: Democrats Sue Everything Trump Touches
The document was explicitly built to keep the coordination secret. Titled "PRIVILEGED & CONFIDENTIAL COMMON INTEREST AGREEMENT," it shielded the states' legal collaboration from public disclosure and from opposing counsel. The parties stated they wished to pursue their common interest "while avoiding any waiver of the confidentiality of those privileged materials." Most records released by the Washington State AG's office in response to public records requests came back entirely redacted. President Joe Biden was still in the race when the first AGs signed; he wouldn't exit for nearly three more months. These attorneys general were not responding to Trump's policies. They were war-gaming them.
The scale of what followed is staggering. Democratic AGs have sued the Trump administration nearly 100 times since January 2025. California AG Rob Bonta alone has participated in 82 cases. Colorado's Phil Weiser joined at least 75. Washington's Nick Brown joined 70. Their offices divided research assignments by issue area, built a "brief bank" of pre-drafted briefs, and studied Project 2025 for litigation targets, all before Inauguration Day. Watchdog groups flagged the secret pact as early as February 2025.
California taxpayers have already spent $19 million on the effort, with $25 million more authorized. New Jersey added $1 million to its fiscal 2026 budget for two positions tied to the project. Bonta insists, with a straight face, it's all "apolitical."
“If (Trump) doesn’t want to get sued, all he has to do is follow the law,” Bonta said. “I don’t think our cases are likely to be dismissed… Trump shows no sign of slowing down, so we will continue to sue him.”
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) was blunter.
“Look where we are now,” Kaine told The Center Square in an interview at the Capitol. “(The Democratic attorneys general) did what Republican attorneys general did with President Obama’s stimulus plan in 2009: 'everything he’s for, we’re against.'”
That's not a legal standard. That's a confession.
Maryland AG Anthony Brown, for his part, defended the advance planning as prudent preparation once Trump's nomination appeared inevitable, insisting no lawsuits were filed before the election. As if the pre-election war-gaming were a footnote rather than the story.
The secrecy itself has drawn scrutiny. Retired Connecticut judge Thomas Moukawsher called the agreement's framing legally dubious: "'Federal Accountability?' That's just a little strange." Former Utah AG Mark Shurtleff, a Republican who now often votes Democrat, put it plainly: "That's not normal at all."
Trump had not issued a single second-term executive order, signed a bill, or taken any official action as president when this network took shape. The legal resistance was already organized, in secret, on the taxpayer's dime, before a single ballot was cast.
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