PHOENIX — Arizona has spent millions suing the Trump administration 25 times so far this year, but the state’s attorney general says the legal action has protected $1.5 billion for the state.
Attorney General Kris Mayes puts the cost of those 25 lawsuits at about a couple of million dollars. But the return on investment, she said, “is massive.”
“So when you add up the amount of money that we've been able to save for the state of Arizona through those 25 lawsuits, it comes to $1.5 billion, and that's $60 million per lawsuit, if you're doing the math,” she told ABC15 in a sit-down interview Monday.
Mayes said she files suit whenever the federal government violates the Constitution or harms Arizona.
“That’s my job. I took an oath to uphold the American Constitution, and I'm going to keep doing it if I have to,” she said. “I wish I didn't have to. It's not on my bucket list to sue Donald Trump, but it is my job to protect Arizonans.”
Mayes filed the latest suit – a challenge to a U.S. Department of Agriculture directive to states to share personal data about Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients –just three weeks ago.
Mayes: Lawsuits aren’t about politics
Arizonans should know the legal action isn’t about politics, Mayes said.
“This is about people and protecting the people of Arizona, and it wouldn't matter if it was a Democratic president, I would still be filing these lawsuits,” she said.
Arizona hasn’t signed on to every lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s administration. Mayes said she uses two criteria to evaluate whether or not to go to court.
“Does it harm the state of Arizona? Has the President violated the Constitution or the law?” she said.
The lawsuits have been filed by states with Democratic attorneys general, although two states with Democratic governors – Pennsylvania and Kentucky – have joined a couple of them on behalf of those governors.
Critics say Arizona shouldn’t be suing, pointing to Trump’s victory in Arizona in last year’s presidential race.
Statewide voters also elected Mayes, she said, adding that Arizonans support the programs she sued to protect.
“I think that they support what we're doing here at the AG’s office, because they know that that we need things like Meals on Wheels, Head Start. We need to combat the fentanyl crisis and go after the Mexican drug cartels.”
Mayes: Lawsuits are working
Mayes' office announced the first lawsuit on Jan. 21, the day after Trump’s inauguration. It challenges the president’s executive order to end birthright citizenship for babies born to parents without legal status.
“This is about who is an American and who isn't an American,” she said. “It's about the Constitution and what the 14th Amendment says, which is that all people born in the United States are citizens of the United States. Nothing could be more clear than that.”
Going to court, she said, is working.
Courts have ordered temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions in many cases, stopping the president’s orders from taking effect while the lawsuits move through the court system.
“What we are seeing in a lot of cases is, we'll win a TRO or a preliminary injunction, and then the Trump administration just kind of quietly goes away,” she said, pointing the lawsuit challenging the federal funding freeze.
Mayes calls Trump’s takeover of D.C. ‘unacceptable’
Arizona’s AG sat down with ABC15 hours after Trump took command of the police in Washington, D.C., and activated hundreds of National Guard members.
“I think it's totally unacceptable, and I don't want to see it in the state of Arizona,” Mayes said.
Trump declared a public safety emergency in D.C. inwhat he said was an attempt to fight crime.
“We’re going to take our capitol back,” Trump said Monday.
According to crime statistics, violent crime is down 26% in D.C. compared to this time last year. Crime in the nation’s capitol also dropped significantly last year compared to 2023.
“If what happened today, or what's happening today in DC, were to happen in Arizona, I can tell you, there would be a fight on their hands,” she said.
