BREAKINGVIEWS-Unsung rebels fend off US policy whiplash

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

By Gabriel Rubin

WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The U.S. red wave mostly flooded Washington. Republicans took back control of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and Capitol Hill, but Democratic legal authorities hold sway around the country, and they just provided a timely reminder of how federalism curbs power and serves as a valuable economic buffer.

State attorneys general champion the rights of their respective residents against everyone from the national government to Big Tobacco. Twenty-two of them mobilized this week to sue President Donald Trump’s administration over its decision to freeze $3 trillion of federal grants and loans. Their rebellion led to a court order and a White House retreat. It may be challenging, however, to sustain the 83% success rate achieved during Trump’s first term, as calculated by a Marquette University professor’s database.

Suing Uncle Sam is a bipartisan tactic. Republicans successfully blocked big Democratic initiatives, too. They torpedoed President Joe Biden’s $400 billion student loan forgiveness program and Barack Obama’s attempts to restrain carbon emissions from power plants. States have a solid track record regardless of party affiliation: Republicans won 74% of their cases against Biden.

Multistate litigation grew with the rise of economically significant rules in the 1990s, totted up by George Washington University’s Regulatory Studies Center, especially after fights against tobacco companies succeeded. Bipartisan lawsuits have become more common, too.

In 2023, 42 states sued Facebook owner Meta Platforms in a single day alleging that social media apps harm children. States also are allowed to persist with a case against a company even if partnering federal plaintiffs decide to settle. This means that despite Trump’s threat to drop consumer and environmental protection challenges initiated by the preceding administration, state attorneys general can charge ahead on their own.

The battles will get tougher, though. Democratic policymakers concede that Team Trump is more prepared this time around than in 2017. The president also will benefit from changes to legal doctrine, most consequentially from the more conservative federal judges he appointed during his first term. A federal deregulatory push also stands to put states on the back foot, exemplified by California being forced to safeguard its own auto emissions standards and other rules.

Even if it helps corporate interests on paper, regulatory upheaval risks destabilizing a CEO’s strategy and outlook. With consensus-based lawmaking a seemingly quaint notion of the past, it is the unsung legal eagles scattered across the states that offer the best chance at thwarting policy whiplash.

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CONTEXT NEWS

President Donald Trump’s budget office on Jan. 29 rescinded a broad temporary funding freeze a day after a coalition of 22 Democratic state attorneys general said they would sue to block the edict.