The money California’s Legislature is considering for the DOJ would give it the ability to quickly file litigation and seek injunctive relief if the federal government acts unlawfully, Newsom’s office said in a statement last month. Its focus will be protecting civil rights, reproductive freedoms and immigrant families, and maintaining the state’s climate protections.
Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office has spent months preparing to face Trump along with attorneys general from other states.
“We have thought through all of the possibilities of the attacks on our values, our people, our state, and we expect certain litigation to come or certain actions to come from the federal government and certain litigation that we will take in response,” he told reporters in San Francisco on Nov. 7.
He plans to begin by introducing legislation to protect Californians’ reproductive rights on Monday alongside state lawmakers and advocates.
Newsom should have no problem passing the requested legal aid since Democrats were able to hold on to two-thirds supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature despite a rightward shift. Bay Area leaders have expressed wide support for his proposal.
“We’re focused like a laser in this special session to ensure California remains a firewall against extreme policies from the Trump administration,” state Sen. Scott Wiener told KQED. “We will absolutely defend Californians and California values, and we’ll use this special session to apportion the resources we need to do so.”
Assemblymember Alex Lee, who represents Milpitas and Fremont, said that he and his colleagues were preparing to be a “beacon of hope and model of progress,” no matter how the federal government operates.
“In an era where the presidential administration will be headed by unqualified cronies who want to abuse the federal government for tax breaks and immunity from crimes, we have to show the country what real democracy looks like,” he said.
