In a new triple whammy, Trump regime is unconstitutionally intruding on Congress’s power, unlawfully interfering with states’ rights, and actively harming crime victims. A coalition of Democratic state AGs filed suit today to prevent Trump from forcing states to either give up Congressionally appropriated funds for crime victim support or cooperate with Trump’s war on immigrants. #LawFedi 1/
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@heidilifeldman
this needs to be approached in a different way.. FFS dems still dont see what's happening, and the courts have been captured.
they need to build up state-run militias so there can be an actual show of force if a gestapo shows up
@heidilifeldman
this needs to be approached in a different way.. FFS dems still dont see what's happening, and the courts have been captured.
they need to build up state-run militias so there can be an actual show of force if a gestapo shows up
The suit is particularly noteworthy because it demonstrates how Trump is determined to coerce the entire country, including Democratic states and munipalities, into faciliting his authoritarian fascism, using every lever of pressure he possibly can. Here’s a link to the complaint. 2/ https://www.njoag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025-0818_Dkt.-No.-1-Complaint.pdf
@heidilifeldman Far from being the first time ever, Trump's formally begging to be sued for racketeering abusing presidential seat's power.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/05/sue-trump-oval-office-racketeering.html
The Trump regime is taking advantage of the sort of federal-state arrangements that became increasingly ubiquitous during the last quarter of the 20th century through today. According to these, states remit money to the federal government, and Congress redistributes these funds throughout the country to support programs that poorer states might be unwilling or unable to fund on their own. In principle, a decent setup. 3/
When Congress as a whole allocates federal funds to state grants, Congress often conditions receipt of the grants on compliance with the program Congress is setting up. The type of conditions Congress may set is governed by a body of law all stemming from the U.S. Constitution's federalist design, which establishes our system of dual sovereignty, according to which neither the states nor the federal government may usurp each other's jurisdiction and powers. 4/
The Trump regime is doing things that go wholly beyond what I just described above. The Trump-Bondi DOJ has promulgated regulations denying receipt of funds due states if those states do not cooperate with DOJ, DHS, and ICE activity involving immigrants. NOTE: the grant program has NOTHING to do with immigration nor with anything Congress wrote in the authorizing statute, the Victims of Crime Act. 5/
In other words, the Trump-Bondi DoJ is acting wholly illegally in an attempt to blackmail states into cooperating with Trump regime immigration policies and practices. Here are some details of this disgusting measure. 6/
Decades ago, Congress enacted the Victims of Crime Act, which created grant programs to enable states to provide resources to crime victims and survivors, e.g. advocacy services, emergency shelter, compensatory funding. 7/
The grants were designated specifically and only to help crime victims, thereby assisting the states in their Constitutional role as protectors of public safety and wellbeing of their residents. Congress specified, by statute, the formulas to be used to distribute the funds. The only role for the DoJ is to administer the grants according to the formulas. 8/
But, under the Trump-Bondi regime, the DoJ office that administers the program, the Office for Victims of Crime, announced in July that it will not fund VOCA grants to any state that does not "give access to DHS agents, or honor DHS requests [,or] provide requested notice to DHS agents". 9/
