Nessel vows at Detroit town hall to keep challenging Trump

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined nearly a dozen lawsuits challenging actions by the Trump administration, and she’s letting residents know she’ll keep going when she believes it’s necessary.

Nessel and state Rep. Stephanie Young spoke to several dozen constituents at a town hall Sunday afternoon at the IBEW Local 58 in Detroit to discuss the lawsuits Nessel’s office has joined, starting the day after Trump’s inauguration.

Many of the lawsuits allege executive orders issued by Trump overstep presidential authority by usurping the authority of Congress or an administrative agency.

“A lot of these things could happen legally. They just choose not to because they think there are no other branches of government,” Nessel said.

Nessel said the use of lawsuits by state attorneys general to challenge policies of Trump’s first presidential administration from 2017-21 inspired her to run for the office herself. She said two criteria spur her office to file a case against the federal government: An action by the administration must violate a law or regulation, such as the Constitution or the Administrative Procedure Act, and it needs to have harmed Michigan residents in a specific way.

Leonard and Margaret Weber of Detroit, who live in Young’s district, said they came to the town hall interested to hear about Nessel’s long-term strategy for legal actions. They said proposals for cuts that could affect Medicaid and Social Security programs, along with targeting of universities, have stood out to them as concerning.

The Detroit News and other media have reported on colleges under investigation for programs that considered diversity, equity and inclusion or those not doing enough to combat antisemitism.

The U.S. Education Department gave an ultimatum to universities to stop using “racial preferences” as a factor in admissions, financial aid, hiring or other areas. Schools were told to end any practice that treats students or workers differently because of their race or lose their eligibility for federal money.

Trump has and senior officials have framed the downsizing of federal agencies as federal government as cost-saving measures designed to make government more efficient.

“The federal government is costly, inefficient, and deeply in debt. At the same time, it is not producing results for the American public,” said the memo from Russell Vought, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, and Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, the Associated Press reported in February.

The White House did not immediately respond for comment on the lawsuits Nessel’s office has joined.

Leonard Weber said he believes many of the administration’s actions have been “done in total irregard for the law.”

He said he hopes officials such as Nessel are considering “what can we do in advance, instead of always trying to catch up and stop him after the fact?”

Nessel said Michigan has participated as a party in nine lawsuits and filed briefs in support of 12 others as of Sunday. The lawsuits range from challenging Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship, filed the day after his Jan. 20 inauguration, to attempting to stop the administration from cutting medical research funding from the National Institutes of Health.

Most recently, Michigan and other states have sued to stop the administration from eliminating the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Nessel said dismantling the agency could mean Michigan would lose more than $4.75 million in federal library funding.

Tomena Rawls, chair of the Redford Township Democratic Club, asked for advice about how Black people can use the democratic process to fight back against what Rawls said are attacks on them, also mentioning the administration’s targeting of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

“He’s trying to gaslight the African American community, so we can come out and protest and be victims, since most of the recourses have been pushed back,” she said. “Now, what is your advice, so I can take it back to my community and give them some sense of hope and stability, so we can press on in this democratic process?”

“You can’t stop us from educating ourselves,” Young said. “And that’s one of the main things, forums like this, making certain that people are educated about what’s happening.”

Nessel’s advice circled back to her office’s pursuit of legal action, which she said echoes advice she gives to schools and universities: Abide by state and federal laws, which gives her office the option of filing a lawsuit if the administration threatens adverse actions.

“Until … we have a situation of a significant constitutional crisis where the words of the courts don’t matter at all anymore, we’re going to continue to make sure everybody’s following the law, and we’re going continue filing lawsuits when the federal government doesn’t.”