LOS ANGELES, CA – In preparation for Donald Trump’s January Inauguration, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has called for a special session to address progressive California policies at risk under the new President-elect.
According to the Department of Justice, the state of California spent nearly $42 million dollars from 2017 to 2021, preparing litigation to defend protected California laws against federal lawsuits.
One example of California challenging Trump’s legislation was its argument against withholding public safety from sanctuary cities. The state DOJ said it was successful in earning their expenditure back, being reported that the federal government reimbursed California $60 million in federal grants, wrote the Sacramento Bee.
While these past actions by Newsom and the California government may act as predictors for how the governor will act once Trump assumes office, there has yet to be a clear plan for California’s legal action against the federal government moving forward, the Bee explained.
An avid advocate of the continuation of these lawsuits is the Attorney General’s Office of California.
Between 2017 and 2018, California lost nearly $28 million dollars in federal funding, writes the Bee, as a result of lawsuits the Attorney General’s Office filed against the federal government. The following year however, the state received a grant that covered the amount they had lost prior.
Then-Attorney General, Xavier Becerra, filed a lawsuit in response to the U.S. government’s threat to withhold funding for public safety in cities and counties that refused to cooperate with federal immigration officials.
Becerra, the Bee reported, went on to request additional funding for the state attorney general’s office in an attempt to expand its Legal Services Division and keep California separate from a “hostile Federal government.”
Rob Bonta, newly-appointed California Attorney General, explains, “Preparation is the best anecdote,” suggesting, the Bee said, the state will act preemptively against the president-elect’s expected legislation.
Between the $850,000 recovered after the department challenged the lack of a citizenship question on the 2020 census, and the expected $8.4 billion to be saved in energy costs as a result of the forced reversal of Trump’s four energy efficiency rules, lawsuits filed by the attorney general’s office have proven wildly successful under Trump’s past presidency, the Bee noted.
