Mayes challenges Trump in court on numerous fronts
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Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has followed through on her pledge to challenge the Trump administration in court. Photo: Jeremy Duda/Axios
Attorney General Kris Mayes planted her flag as the leader of Arizona's Democratic resistance against President Trump after the November election, and since his inauguration, she's followed through with myriad lawsuits against the new administration.
The big picture: Arizona voted for Trump in November, but it's Mayes' assessment that state residents "voted for lower prices and a secure border and a good economy, but they didn't vote for chaos and shredding the Constitution," spokesperson Richie Taylor told Axios.
State of play: Here's a rundown of the lawsuits against the Trump administration that Mayes has joined:
Electric vehicles: Arizona was one of 16 states, along with the District of Columbia, that, on May 7, sued over the Trump administration's decision to freeze billions of federal dollars approved in 2021 for states to build electric vehicle charging stations.
Wind energy: Mayes on May 5 joined 17 other states and the District of Columbia in a lawsuit seeking to overturn Trump's executive order pausing federal approvals, permits and loans for wind energy projects.
Health and Human Services: Mayes and 19 other attorneys general sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on May 5 to challenge the agency's restructuring and downsizing, which included firing staff at the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and Head Start.
AmeriCorps: Mayes joined a coalition of about two dozen Democratic attorneys general on April 29 that sued to stop the Trump administration from dismantling the volunteer service organization AmeriCorps and terminating millions in grant money it gives out.
Education funding: Mayes, with 15 other attorneys general and Pennsylvania's governor, sued the administration on April 10 to restore hundreds of millions in funding to schools from the pandemic-era American Rescue Plan Act that the U.S. Department of Education halted.
Library and museum funding: Mayes and 20 other Democratic attorneys general sued on April 4 over Trump's order largely dismantling the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
- That entity has provided $18 million over the past five years to the Arizona State Library, which used it for programs that digitize historic records, promote literacy, offer broadband and tech support, and provide access to digital collections and databases for county library systems.
Elections: Mayes and Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes joined Democratic officials in 18 other states on April 3 to sue the administration over Trump's executive order on elections, which requires people to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote and seeks to bar states from counting mail-in ballots received after Election Day.
- Arizona requires proof of citizenship to register to vote, but those who register without it using federal forms are permitted to cast "federal-only" ballots that don't include state and leocal races.
- Unlike some states, early ballots must arrive by the close of polls on Election Day for them to be counted in Arizona.
Department of Health and Human Services: Mayes was one of 23 Democratic AGs to sue HHS and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on April 1 for terminating over $11 billion in public health grants to states.
Department of Education: A coalition of 21 AGs, including Mayes, sued in March to block Trump's attempt to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.
Mass firings: 20 states, including Arizona, sued in March over the Trump administration's layoffs of probationary employees.
- Two federal judges ordered the administration to reinstate the employees, which the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to overturn.
Challenging DOGE: Mayes is one of the lead plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed in February by 14 state AGs arguing billionaire Elon Musk's leadership of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) violates the Constitution because he wasn't appointed by the U.S. Senate.
- U.S. District Court Tanya Chutkan denied the AGs' request to block DOGE from accessing federal agencies' data, ruling the states hadn't shown they'll "suffer imminent, irreparable harm."
- But she said the states' larger legal argument was "strong" and their claim has "serious implications."
DOGE access: Mayes joined a coalition of 19 AGs who sued to block the entity's access to the U.S. Treasury Department's central payment system.
- A federal judge ruled DOGE had no legal power to access the Treasury system, and a second judge left the ban in place as she considers the AGs' request for a preliminary injunction.
- The AGs' lawsuit was the second against DOGE access to the Treasury system, following a legal challenge by three federal employees' unions.
Defunding medical and public health research: Mayes was among 22 Democratic AGs who in February sued to stop a Trump administration plan to cap indirect payments from the National Institutes of Health payments to universities to a maximum rate of 15%.
Federal funding freeze: Arizona and 22 other states in January sued to block the Trump administration's order pausing federal grant funding.
- Two judges issued orders blocking the freeze, which Mayes and other Democratic AGs accused the administration of violating.
Birthright citizenship: Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office declaring that children born in the U.S. to people who are in the country illegally aren't entitled to birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment, and the next day a coalition of Democratic AGs that included Mayes went to court over it.
- As of last week, the order had been blocked by four federal judges, one of whom decreed it "blatantly unconstitutional."
Editor's note: This is an ongoing story and will be updated as additional lawsuits are filed.