By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews | November 7, 2025
It’s official: Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has sued the Trump administration at least 39 times since January 2025.
Not over corruption, crime, or genuine constitutional crises — but over policy disagreements.
From education funding to immigration enforcement, Brown has turned the Maryland Office of Attorney General into a taxpayer-funded resistance war room. What was once a law office defending the state’s interests has become a political megaphone for national partisan battles — and Marylanders are footing the bill.
A Lawsuit a Week
By mid-summer, Brown had already joined or led 26 lawsuits against President Trump — an average of one every seven days.
By October 20, that number hit 36.
By early November, Maryland had filed three more: one over SNAP benefits, another over FBI headquarters relocation, and yet another targeting energy policy.
For a state struggling with high taxes, crime, and chronic school mismanagement, Maryland’s top lawyer seems more focused on Washington than Annapolis.
Pattern of Partisanship
Brown’s targets follow a predictable pattern:
- Education and labor: He’s sued over “teacher shortage grants,” “federal worker terminations,” and “mental-health program cuts” — all cases that expand government spending and public-sector unions.
- Immigration and energy: He’s fought Trump’s attempts to restore border enforcement and curb expensive green subsidies.
- Federal control: Nearly every lawsuit seeks to block executive authority or reclaim federal dollars — the same dollars Maryland politicians later decry as “strings-attached.”
These aren’t legal defenses; they’re ideological crusades.
The Cost to Taxpayers
Each lawsuit means hours of state-paid staff, filings, and travel — often for symbolic results. Of the nearly 40 cases filed, only one (a temporary injunction against HHS staffing cuts) has produced a partial victory. The rest linger in federal limbo.
Meanwhile, Maryland’s crime rate, school absenteeism, and budget shortfalls worsen. While Baltimore fights record violence, Brown’s office is busy fighting Donald Trump.
Lawfare as Politics
This isn’t new. As lieutenant governor, Brown oversaw failed health-exchange rollouts that wasted hundreds of millions. Now, as attorney general, he’s applying the same “spend first, fix later” logic — only this time with subpoenas instead of servers.
When Republican attorneys general sued Obama over executive overreach, Democrats called it “obstruction.” Now it’s being sold as “defending democracy.”
But Maryland voters should ask: Who’s defending Maryland?
A State Office, Not a Campaign HQ
The attorney general’s duty is to represent the people of Maryland, not the Democratic National Committee. Yet Brown’s office issues press releases that sound more like campaign ads than legal filings — touting “coalitions of progressive AGs” and “standing up to MAGA extremism.”
At some point, that crosses from governance to lawfare — the use of lawsuits as political theater. And when that theater costs millions and achieves little, taxpayers become unwilling sponsors of someone else’s campaign.
Bottom Line
Anthony Brown isn’t defending Maryland — he’s defending a political narrative.
Thirty-nine lawsuits later, the results speak for themselves: not victories for the state, but virtue signals for the party.
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