On April 28, 2024 — seven months before Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris by 2.3 million votes — seven Democrat state attorneys general signed a document titled "PRIVILEGED & CONFIDENTIAL COMMON INTEREST AGREEMENT." By June, 13 more had joined. The total: 22 Democratic AGs coordinating litigation against a president who hadn't been elected yet, for executive actions he hadn't taken yet.
The coordinated effort has a name. They called it the "Project for Federal Accountability."
That name alone tells you everything about the intent. Retired Connecticut judge Thomas Moukawsher looked at the title and said, "'Federal Accountability?' That's just a little strange." Former Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff — a Republican who now votes Democrat — was more direct: "That's not normal at all."
It wasn't normal because it wasn't supposed to be. According to reports the attorneys general used the common interest agreement to shield their collaboration from public records requests and opposing counsel. When the Washington State Attorney General's office was forced to release records, they turned over hundreds of pages — almost entirely redacted. The agreement wasn't just about coordinating legal strategy. It was about making sure nobody could see them doing it.
The scale of what followed speaks for itself. Since January 2025, state attorneys general have sued the Trump administration nearly 100 times. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has been involved in 82 of those cases. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser joined 75. Washington Attorney General Nick Brown signed onto 70. Bonta told reporters, "If he doesn't want to get sued, all he has to do is follow the law. I don't think our cases are likely to be dismissed. Trump shows no sign of slowing down, so we will sue him."
The money trail matches the litigation volume. California has already spent $19 million on Trump-related lawsuits and authorized an additional $25 million. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy added $1 million to his state's fiscal year 2026 budget specifically earmarked for the Project for Federal Accountability. Taxpayer dollars, allocated before any legal injury was identified, for lawsuits planned before a single executive order was signed.
Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia tried to normalize it. "Look where we are now," he said. "They did what Republican attorneys general did with President Obama's stimulus plan in 2009: 'everything he's for, we're against.'" Except Republican AGs in 2009 didn't sign a secret common interest agreement seven months before the election, pre-draft briefs, build a litigation war room, and give the whole operation a branded name. Those are not the same things, and Kaine knows it.
That's not accountability. That's a business plan.
