California AG shows Democrats a path forward to fight against Trump’s government overreach | Opinion

With a Republican-led Congress unwilling to perform its oversight role while President Donald Trump issues executive orders that defy generations of political norms, U.S. courts might be our last hope to preserve the version of American democracy envisioned by our Founding Fathers.

Already, 18 court rulings have successfully halted unlawful actions from the Trump administration, according to The New York Times, and federal judges have temporarily blocked the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive data at the Treasury Department.

Now, California Attorney General Rob Bonta has joined 13 other attorneys general in suing the Trump administration in an attempt to stop the richest man in the world as Musk and his acolytes are granted unprecedented access to sensitive federal data and systems by Trump.

Proving that there is nothing political about good governance, two of the 14 states currently signed onto the lawsuit have Republican governors.

The lawsuit against Musk was filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It holds that the billionaire has, via his involvement with the DOGE, “roamed through the federal government unraveling agencies, accessing sensitive data and causing mass chaos and confusion for state and local governments, federal employees and the American people.”

DOGE, which is not an actual government agency but merely an ad hoc team under the executive branch, is being spearheaded by Musk, who is not a vetted or elected government official. The team has pushed for billions of dollars in cuts to the federal government and suspended or fired thousands of government workers, causing confusion and creating chaos.

Lawsuit seeks to halt Musk

The lawsuit brought by 14 states sought a temporary restraining order to prevent Musk or anyone on his efficiency team from combing through data at the Office of Personnel Management and the Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, Energy, Transportation and Commerce Departments, according to The Times. It would also prevent Musk from “terminating, furloughing or otherwise placing on involuntary leave” employees at those seven agencies.

But a blow to the case was dealt Tuesday when Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of the Federal District Court ruled that the attorneys general did not provide “specific examples of how Mr. Musk’s team’s efforts would cause imminent or irreparable harm to the states or their residents.” Chutkan suggested that the lawsuit could still succeed if additional evidence is introduced.

Musk defies Constitution

The lawsuit challenging Musk’s designs on the federal government argues that allowing an unelected adviser to have so much power over multiple governmental agencies, as well as Americans’ personal tax and Social Security data, is unconstitutional.

“There is no office of the United States, other than the president, with the full power of the executive branch,” the lawsuit states. “The sweeping authority now vested in a single unelected and unconfirmed individual is antithetical to the nation’s entire constitutional structure.”

Bonta, who is now involved in several lawsuits against the Trump administration, is a leader among Democrats precisely because Democrats in Congress are deep in the minority and seemingly convinced that they are unable to do much but rail on social media. As Californa’s lawyer, Bonta is in a position to oppose overreach by the executive branch.

Bonta shows the way

The California attorney general currently has four lawsuits against the Trump administration: on Musk’s executive branch infiltration, birthright citizenship, federal grant cuts and restrictions on how universities pay for research.

As Americans grow more disdainful of Musk’s role in the Trump administration (a recent poll found that only three in 10 Americans approve of Musk’s government overhaul) it falls to Democrats — and some Republicans — to use the power of the courts if Congress spurns its role of providing checks and balances to presidential power.

On Monday, thousands of protesters across the country — including hundreds at the Sacramento Capitol — vocalized their opposition to Trump on Presidents Day. No matter what anyone says, a president doesn’t make law in a vacuum. Our other branches of government, guided by the people, have a voice as well.

Clearly, Bonta is listening.

This story was originally published February 19, 2025 at 10:55 AM with the headline "California AG shows Democrats a path forward to fight against Trump’s government overreach | Opinion."