He described the attack on Mr. Trump’s immigration order as a blueprint for state attorneys general who aim to rein in the White House. Advertisement Continue reading the main storyA Looming FightEven before Mr. Trump’s directive, Democratic attorneys general were gearing up to play a larger role in national politics. Several state attorneys general have cited as an inspiration the long-running legal war waged against the Obama administration by Republican attorneys general, who derailed key White House policies on immigration and nearly voided the Affordable Care Act. Chris Jankowski, a Republican strategist who was an architect of his party’s efforts to elect formidable attorneys general over the past decade, said Democratic attorneys general were “clearly poised to emerge as a check on the Trump administration, just as their Republican colleagues did for eight years.”Mr. Jankowski, a lawyer, said Democratic attorneys general would probably rely heavily on the Constitution’s civil rights protections, much as Republicans leaned on constitutional limits on federal economic power. “State attorneys general are now permanent pieces on the chessboard of national policy development and implementation,” Mr. Jankowski said.

Source: New York Times February 06, 2017 23:48 UTC