* From a national Politico story from last month entitled “23 Dem AGs think they’ve cracked the code to fighting Trump”…

The resistance meets daily on Microsoft Teams.

The country’s 23 Democratic state attorneys general log on at 4pm ET for a thirty-minute confidential video chat to coordinate their plans for pushing back against the Trump administration. They share updates on the seven cases they have moving through federal courts and argue about whether to treat Elon Musk as a lawful arm of the government or an uncredentialed interloper to it. They plot where to respond next, leveraging timezone differences to expand the workday. […]

“Right now in the United States, the Democratic AGs are the only group of people who are united and working to prevent some of these unconstitutional actions from continuing,” Hawaii attorney general Anne Lopez boasted in an interview. […]

“As you can imagine, everybody is the chief legal officer of their respective state, so everybody is used to being in charge,” said Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. “When you’re working collectively on something there’s a desire for everyone to have a leadership role, but you have to put that aside sometimes in the interest of working together.”

Click here to read the rest. It’s a heckuva story.

* I told subscribers about this dispute the other day. Press release…

Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined three attorneys general on Wednesday in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration to preserve federal grant dollars flowing into Illinois for clean-energy projects. Raoul and the coalition filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Illinois Climate Bank, a state-created public bank whose purpose is to stimulate the development of clean energy and greenhouse gas emissions-reducing projects, and to help overcome existing market barriers to these projects.

The lawsuit also names Citibank, which holds the funds for the federal government, to ensure those funds are released as required by law.

“Congress appropriated billions to assist in transitioning to a clean-energy future, protecting our environment from carbon emissions and putting people to work in the process,” Raoul said. “The Trump administration’s decision to deny these critical funds will prevent the development of clean energy projects across Illinois, and I will continue to work with my colleagues to fight this illegal action that hurts our environmental and economic future.”

In their lawsuit, Raoul and the coalition allege that since February 2025, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has pursued a highly irregular and illegal campaign to thwart the $20 billion appropriation Congress made to Illinois and other state green banks. The lawsuit states the EPA has terminated the grants solely due to the Trump administration’s opposition to the duly-enacted Inflation Reduction Act. Raoul and the coalition argue this violates fundamental constitutional guarantees of liberty in the separation of powers and flouts myriad statutory and regulatory controls on federal agencies’ management of congressional appropriations and finalized awards.

Raoul and the coalition further allege that Citibank, which holds the funds for the EPA in a financial agency agreement, improperly capitulated to a Feb. 17 letter from the FBI that demanded that Citibank freeze the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) it held, despite being required by law to release the congressionally-approved funds upon the request of grantees and subgrantees.

The federal government’s improper campaign against GGRF funding also included an attempt to seize the funds Citibank holds, which is an abuse of power that led one of the Department of Justice’s top criminal prosecutors to resign as they refused to proceed in the absence of evidence legally required to seize those funds. A federal judge has since denied the EPA a warrant in this matter, and two different U.S. attorneys’ offices have also declined the case due to lack of probable cause.

Joining Raoul in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Maine and Minnesota.

The lawsuit is here.

* Press release…

Attorney General Kwame Raoul will join four state attorneys general today to participate in a Community Impact Hearing in Minnesota, where they will hear from the public about how the Trump administration’s executive orders and other actions are harming them and how they can fight back. This will be the second hearing in a national series of similar events hosted by attorneys general around the country.

Topics of the hearing will range from funding cuts, to mass firings, to attacks on public health. It will give the attorneys general the opportunity to hear about the direct impact that the Trump administration’s cruel, chaotic and frequently unlawful actions are having on the people of Minnesota.

Who: Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul  
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison
New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin
New York Attorney General Letitia James

When: Thursday, March 20, 2025
5 p.m. media availability
6 to 8 p.m. town hall

Where: Minneapolis/Saint Paul area: location provided upon RSVP
Livestream: www.youtube.com/@agkeithellison

* And another press release from earlier this week…

Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a coalition of 12 attorneys general, today submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Department of State opposing proposed changes to the passport application process that would prevent transgender and nonbinary individuals from obtaining a passport that matches their gender identity.

“This change in the passport application process is the latest of the Trump administration’s efforts to diminish the existence of transgender and nonbinary Americans. Prohibiting transgender and nonbinary people from having identification documents that align with their gender identity makes them less safe,” Raoul said. “Transgender and nonbinary individuals have the right to choose how their identity is reflected on their passports so they are not subjected to unnecessary confusion or delays while traveling. I am proud to stand with other attorneys general to advocate for and protect the rights of transgender and nonbinary individuals who deserve to live authentically throughout this country.”

On Jan. 20, the Trump administration issued an executive order declaring the United States will only recognize two sexes, male and female, and instructing the secretaries of State and Homeland Security to “implement changes that require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, accurately reflect the holder’s sex,” as defined by the executive order. Subsequently, the U.S. Department of State proposed changes to several passport information collection forms. The order and proposed changes break with decades of federal policy on gender identity, including the ability for individuals to change gender markers in identifying records and documents.

In the comment letter, Raoul and the coalition argue the proposed changes would significantly harm nonbinary and transgender people. Forcing a transgender or nonbinary person to have identity documents that do not align with their gender identity impedes their ability to live and travel. For example, when a person’s passport does not comport with their physical appearance, it could cause confusion, delays or harassment when they travel within the United States and internationally. These harms compound the psychological harm that could result from the new policy.

Further, the coalition argues the policy would cause considerable confusion between state-issued identification cards and federal identification documents. The proposed changes conflict with state laws that permit gender marker changes on identifying documents, allowing individuals to participate fully in society and obtain public benefits. At least 16 states, including Illinois, allow transgender and nonbinary people to correct their state-issued birth certificates to accurately reflect their gender identity. If identifying information on state-issued documents does not match with information on federal documents, individuals would likely experience delays when trying to access resources. In addition, states would likely be forced to expend needless resources to review mismatched documents.