When Will Maryland’s Counties Sue Back?

If Anthony Brown Can Sue Trump 39 Times, Why Won’t Local Attorneys Challenge Wes Moore’s Mandates?

By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown can’t go a month without suing the Trump administration. Thirty-nine lawsuits and counting — over food stamps, education funding, energy policy, immigration enforcement, you name it.

But here’s the real question:
If Brown can sue Washington every week for political reasons, why can’t Maryland’s counties sue Annapolis for the same kind of overreach?

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Annapolis Dictates, Counties Pay

Governor Wes Moore and the General Assembly have saddled Maryland’s 23 counties with a blizzard of unfunded mandates — from education spending spikes under the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future to green-energy quotas that gut local budgets and raise utility bills.

Counties must follow the rules, raise property taxes, and explain to angry residents why their school or sheriff’s department is broke. Meanwhile, Annapolis pretends to be the hero — announcing new programs without paying for them.

If anyone deserves a lawsuit, it’s the politicians in Annapolis who keep raiding county budgets to fund their utopian wish lists.

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Lawfare for Me, Not for Thee

Anthony Brown calls his nonstop federal lawsuits “defending democracy.”
But when counties object to state-level mandates, they’re told to shut up and take it.

Why shouldn’t county attorneys — particularly in Frederick, Carroll, Washington, and Calvert Counties — use the same legal logic Brown applies to Trump?
If the state can sue to “protect Maryland’s interests,” surely counties can sue to protect their taxpayers from Annapolis’s fiscal recklessness.

Brown’s weaponization of lawfare could backfire — inspiring local governments to use the same tactics against the state’s own progressive overreach.

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It’s Time for Conservative Counties to Push Back

Rural and suburban Maryland are tired of being the piggybank for Baltimore City’s bureaucracy and Montgomery County’s social experiments.
If Brown can find a federal judge for every ideological fight, county attorneys can find one too.

They could challenge:

• Unfunded mandates that violate local budget autonomy
• State interference with school curriculum and parental rights
• Environmental regulations that destroy small-business jobs
• Equity quotas that ignore merit and local control

The precedent already exists — Brown created it.

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Sue Like a Democrat

For eight years, Democrats have turned litigation into legislation by other means. Every new Trump order gets a lawsuit. Every conservative policy gets an injunction.

If conservatives ever want to slow the progressive bulldozer in Annapolis, they’ll need to use the same tools.
The left doesn’t play fair — it plays for keeps.

And if Anthony Brown can sue Trump over everything from teacher grants to food stamps, then conservative counties can sue Wes Moore over everything from fiscal abuse to ideological coercion.

It’s time for the counties to lawyer up.