State Lawsuits Against the Federal Government

States have sued the federal government since the early republic, but such suits were rare until the 2000s. In Massachusetts v. EPA in 2007 the Supreme Court said states deserve special solicitude when they sue to protect their interests, encouraging more cases. State attorneys general, usually elected, now coordinate multistate suits through party organizations, filing in courts where they expect friendly judges and seeking orders that block policies nationwide.

Republican attorneys general led by Texas sued the Obama administration over immigration and health care and stopped its deferred action program for parents of immigrants in 2015. Texas alone filed more than 100 suits against the Biden administration. Democratic states filed more than 150 multistate suits during the first Trump term, and by October 28, 2026, they had filed 94 multistate suits against the second Trump administration over tariffs, funding freezes, birthright citizenship, the National Guard, and federal layoffs, with California alone suing more than once a week at times.

In Trump v. CASA in June 2025 the Supreme Court limited universal injunctions, though states can still win broad relief in some cases, and in United States v. Texas in 2023 it said states lacked standing to challenge immigration enforcement priorities. Supporters say state lawsuits are a vital check on federal overreach regardless of party. Critics say they have become partisan tools that let a single judge freeze national policy and that state attorneys general use them to raise their political profiles.