Platkin finds initial success in lawsuits against Trump orders

In the days and weeks before President Donald Trump took office, Gov. Phil Murphy and Attorney General Matt Platkin made their plans clear: They would work with the Republican when possible and resist him when needed.

In these first few weeks of Trump’s second term, Platkin hasn’t seen much to work with. Instead, the Democrat has had a busy few weeks working against the new president’s flurry of executive action. Since the inauguration, Platkin has led or joined four lawsuits against the new administration, not to mention the plethora of letters, briefs, and statements directed at the administration.

Angry Democrats, who don’t possess a majority in either chamber of Congress, have instead looked to the judiciary to slow down Trump’s second administration. And in some cases, it’s worked—Platkin and other Democratic attorneys general have found success (even if only temporarily) in each of the four lawsuits.

Platkin’s most recent victory came Monday afternoon when a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enacting a cap on “indirect funds” for medical research. New Jersey joined the emergency lawsuit Monday, arguing the new cap would force stoppages in necessary medical and public health research at universities throughout the state.

Platkin has said Trump’s orders reflect the efforts of a monarch, not the leader of a system with checks and balances.

“Presidents are not kings and they cannot rewrite the Constitution with the stroke of a pen,” Platkin said about a (now-paused) Trump order that would have limited birthright citizenship.

In the case of the birthright citizenship order, three federal judges have agreed, including one who called the policy “blatantly unconstitutional.”

On Monday, in another suit in which New Jersey is a plaintiff, a federal judge found the federal government violated a previous order to unfreeze federal funding. That lawsuit came about late last month when a memo from the Trump administration’s budget office led to frozen federal funds and disarray within the government.

The victories are only temporary—most of the rulings have come in the form of temporary injunctions, which block an action from taking effect until judges have a chance to rule on the merits of a case.

But while the relief is only temporary, Platkin has suggested the preliminary victories will lead to long-term success in their legal challenges against Trump.

“President Trump may not think that the law applies to him or his acolytes such as Vice President Vance or Elon Musk, but in this country, the courts have the final say on the law—not the President,” Platkin said in a release Monday.

On top of wins in the cases involving federal funding and birthright citizenship, a federal judge blocked Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from obtaining Treasury Department records containing the financial data of millions of Americans. Platkin joined that lawsuit with 18 other Democratic attorneys general last week.

“Americans never elected Elon Musk, and our lawsuit seeks to protect New Jerseyans from this unprecedented breach of privacy, and of the laws of our nation,” Platkin said in a release. “I will never back down from a fight to protect our residents from harm—even if it is against the richest man in the world.”

Republicans are largely supportive of the president, but as long as Democrats control the governor’s office, they also control the state’s legal actions against Trump.

Further legal action could be in the cards as Trump progresses through his governing priorities. Democratic leaders on both the state and municipal level have promised to fight Trump’s promises of mass deportations. Platkin filed a brief before Trump took office to protect health care access for immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as children.

The results of these cases could change as they make their way through the court system. The federal judiciary is more conservative than it was a decade ago, and a 6-3 conservative-controlled Supreme Court might choose to uphold some (or all) of Trump’s executive orders.

Until then, Platkin said he will keep fighting Trump.

“He not only violates the laws and the Constitution of this nation,” the attorney general said while criticizing the federal funding freeze. “He violates the norms of who we are as a people.”