WA Governor-elect, AG-elect prepared for litigation in 2nd Trump term

- It has only been two days since the 2024 election, but the Washington State Attorney General's Office has already been preparing for potential legal challenges from president-elect Donald Trump. Thursday, AG Bob Ferguson and his successor, Nick Brown , outlined their litigation plan to protect Washingtonians .

"Months ago, my legal team began preparing for a potential second Trump administration. We knew from our extensive experience during his first term that we would need to be prepared from day one if he was reelected," said Ferguson.

The attorney general said his team defeated 55 illegal actions and policies of Trump's first administration between 2017 and 2021.

"One of many reasons why we were successful with our litigation against the Trump administration was they were often sloppy in the way they rolled out their executive action, for example. And that provided openings for us to prevail in court. This time around, I anticipate that we will see less of that. It's an important difference we may see," explained Ferguson.

Now as governor-elect, Ferguson is preparing his successor for the work ahead.

"My commitment to this office and to all the men and women is that we will be prepared. We will be prepared for whatever comes, and we will do everything in our power to defend the rights of Washingtonians, the people of this great state. And to make sure that when there is an illegal action, that we will look very closely to see if we can bring a case, can we be successful, and continue to defend things that make Washington unique and make this the best state in the country," said AG-elect Brown.

Brown, a former U.S. Attorney, is no stranger to the court, nor is he intimidated about potential litigation at the federal level.

"If people are being harmed, if the law is being violated, we should enforce that without fear of retribution from the President of the United States or anybody else in this state or the country," said Brown. "It's going to be our obligation to make sure that we are defending the rights of everyone in Washington state, citizen and non-citizen alike, to make sure they're rights are not being violated."

In their months of preparing for the next four years of potential legal challenges, Ferguson said his team has been studying Trump's remarks on the campaign trail, reviewing Trump's possible agenda, and reading every line of "Project 2025."

While the president has distanced himself from Project 2025, Ferguson said he's not taking any chances.

"What is in Project 2025 and Agenda 47 constitutes an assault on reproductive rights, healthcare access, environmental protections, to name just a few," said Ferguson.

Though Ferguson said he was concerned the next president will disregard enforcement of environmental protections and civil rights, state laws are already in place to defend Washingtonians.

"Nothing that Donald Trump does, or his administration does, takes away our ability to enforce our rights here in Washington state, to protect our environment, to defend civil rights of all Washingtonians. And we are far, far better resourced to do that work than we were in January 2017," said the governor-elect.

While Brown is next in line ready to take on the fight for Washington in the highest court, he said it's also important to focus on measures at home.

"One of the ways we need to continue to prepare for some of the challenges that we might face from a Trump administration is by continuing to improve Washington policy when it comes to environmental protection, continuing the track record that the legislature has been on the last many years, strengthening the work that we do here, and using the Attorney General's Office to make sure that we are enforcing those provisions," said Brown.

After the election, Brown was appointed to a special position in the AG's office to provide access to briefings and help his transition to attorney general come January. He said he was already in contact with other democratic AGs throughout the nation getting ready for the upcoming term.

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