By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews
For Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, the job increasingly looks less like chief legal officer of the state and more like the manager of a political litigation factory aimed squarely at one man: Donald Trump.
Since the start of Trump’s second administration in January 2025, Brown has led, joined, or supported over 100 legal actions against the federal government. More than 50 of those are direct lawsuits. The rest involve amicus briefs and coalition filings coordinated with other Democratic attorneys general.
The pace is extraordinary.
At the current rate, if Governor Wes Moore wins reelection and Trump remains in office through 2029, Maryland could participate in more than 200 lawsuits and 400 legal actions against a single presidential administration.
Yet during the Biden presidency — when Brown served as attorney general beginning in 2023 — Maryland filed zero lawsuits challenging federal policy.
The contrast raises a serious question:
Is the Maryland Attorney General’s office acting as a legal watchdog — or as a partisan political weapon?
A One-Sided Legal War
The numbers are hard to ignore.
Under Brown’s predecessor, former Attorney General Brian Frosh, Maryland joined about 95 lawsuits against the Trump administration during Trump’s first term (2017–2021).
During the Obama and Biden administrations, however, Maryland filed no adversarial lawsuits against federal policy.
None.
That pattern has continued under Brown. Since taking office in 2023, his legal challenges have been directed almost entirely at the Trump administration.
Examples include lawsuits challenging:
- Trump administration immigration enforcement actions
- Changes to federal vaccine policy under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- Federal infrastructure and energy funding decisions
- Proposed ICE detention facilities
- Tariff policies under the Trade Act
- Federal agency restructuring
- Education funding decisions
- Environmental and regulatory changes
In just one year, Brown has already filed more than half as many lawsuits as Frosh filed in four years.
The message is unmistakable: Maryland’s attorney general is operating as part of a coordinated national legal campaign against the current president.
The Coalition Strategy
Brown rarely files alone.
Instead, Maryland frequently joins coalitions of Democratic attorneys general led by states like California, New York, Massachusetts, and Washington.
These lawsuits are often filed in friendly federal jurisdictions where plaintiffs are likely to receive favorable rulings or preliminary injunctions.
The goal is rarely a final Supreme Court decision. Instead, the strategy is to slow federal policy through litigation — tying up executive actions in court for months or years.
This tactic was pioneered during Trump’s first presidency and has now become a central tool of partisan legal warfare.
In effect, state attorneys general are acting as a shadow opposition branch of government.
And Maryland is among the most aggressive participants.
Taxpayer Resources for Political Theater
The problem isn’t simply ideological disagreement with federal policy.
States have the right to challenge federal authority when legitimate legal conflicts arise.
But the scale of Maryland’s litigation raises concerns about priorities.
While Brown’s office devotes enormous resources to fighting Washington, Maryland faces major problems at home:
- A looming state budget deficit
- Rising violent crime in Baltimore and Prince George’s County
- Struggles in the child welfare system
- Persistent failures in Maryland’s family courts
- Infrastructure challenges across the state
Yet instead of focusing on these issues, the attorney general appears locked into a permanent legal campaign against the federal government.
The political incentives are obvious.
For Democratic attorneys general, suing a Republican president generates headlines, media attention, and national political capital.
It also positions them for future runs for higher office.
Brown himself has long been viewed as a potential future candidate for governor or even federal office.
High-profile lawsuits against Trump play well in national Democratic politics.
The Trump Fixation
Critics argue the litigation spree reflects something deeper than policy disagreements.
It reflects an obsession.
Brown’s office has challenged Trump administration actions on nearly every front imaginable — from tariffs to vaccines to immigration detention facilities.
At this pace, Maryland could surpass 200 lawsuits against the Trump administration by the end of the term.
Meanwhile, the record against Democratic administrations remains unchanged:
Zero lawsuits against Obama.
Zero lawsuits against Biden.
For many Marylanders, that pattern looks less like neutral law enforcement and more like partisan activism.
A National Trend
Maryland is not alone.
Republican attorneys general sued the Biden administration frequently during the previous presidency, often on issues such as immigration, energy policy, and student loan forgiveness.
But Maryland’s participation in the anti-Trump litigation coalition places it among the most aggressive states in the country in opposing federal policy through the courts.
What once might have been rare constitutional disputes have now become routine political strategy.
The courtroom has become another battlefield in America’s partisan wars.
The Bigger Question
At some point, Maryland voters may want to ask a simple question:
What exactly is the attorney general’s job?
Is it to protect the legal interests of Maryland residents?
Or is it to serve as a full-time opponent of whichever president belongs to the other party?
Because if the current trend continues, Maryland taxpayers will be funding one of the largest anti-presidential litigation campaigns in modern history.
And the target — almost exclusively — will remain the same.
Donald Trump.
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