A dozen Democrat-led states declared victory Thursday in a legal battle that effectively checked off two priorities from a liberal coalition’s 2024 template for blue states to thwart President Donald Trump’s agenda.
An attachment to a Dec. 13, 2024, email to the coalition Governors Safeguarding Democracy outlined the organization’s priorities to oppose then-President-elect Trump through litigation and policy battles, including opposition to deporting illegal aliens and efforts to prevent the loss of federal funding.
In the Thursday action, the Department of Homeland Security dropped an appeal to withhold Federal Emergency Management Agency funding from sanctuary jurisdictions, which had originally prompted the 12-state lawsuit against the administration.
Governors Safeguarding Democracy, co-chaired by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, had a broad plan more than a month before Trump’s inauguration that included protecting diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and challenging election security policies.
The Daily Signal obtained email records from the group through a public records request with Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ office. A frequently asked questions section provided the template:
● Preparing to mitigate the impacts of mass deportation and related operations.
● Securing sensitive data and records maintained by our states.
● Augmenting staffing at the state level, drawing upon federal expertise as desired.
● Protecting federal funding streams.
● Preparing for potential regulatory threats and increased state-level needs.
● Fortifying election processes and procedures.
● Developing a set of aligned democracy protection and advancement actions.
Governors Safeguarding Democracy is part of the Governors Action Alliance, which previously launched the abortion advocacy group Reproductive Freedom Alliance.
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Here are areas where states appeared to follow the litigation and policy agenda to oppose Trump.
1. Opposing ICE
On Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a legislative package to prevent mass deportation and oppose Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“States like New York must be a guardrail against ICE, an out-of-control $85 billion agency,” Hochul said in a post on X. “We’re putting those guardrails in place: local cops focused on local crime, protections for sensitive locations, unmasking law enforcement, and real accountability when rights are violated.”
Last month, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed an executive order to block ICE from accessing state property and launched an online portal for residents to report ICE activity directly to the attorney general’s office.
This followed legislation California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in September requiring ICE agents to unmask. Last month, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the law, citing the supremacy clause.
2. Stopping the National Guard
The Governors Safeguarding Democracy emails showed Zoom webinars training governors and staffers on how to combat the deployment of National Guard troops to their states.
Both California and Illinois filed separate lawsuits over the deployment of National Guard troops for the protection of ICE detention facilities.
3. Protecting Federal Funding Streams
Beyond the aforementioned lawsuit over FEMA dollars, in May 2025, some of the same 20 states, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, sued over a Transportation Department policy withholding billions of dollars from the state over its sanctuary policy.
4. DEI Litigation
The emails further included suggestions for governors to maintain federal funding if the forthcoming Trump administration withheld it over state DEI policies.
In April 2025, a coalition of 20 Democrat-led states sued the U.S. Department of Education after the Trump administration ordered states to certify they were not using DEI practices or risk losing federal education funding. Maryland federal Judge Adam Abelson halted the funding freeze by issuing a temporary injunction.
5. Opposing Trump Election Integrity Measures
In April, 23 Democrat attorneys general sued in federal court in Massachusetts over Trump’s executive order instructing the U.S. Postal Service to verify citizenship for people sending mail-in ballots.
This came a year after an April 2025 lawsuit in which 20 Democrat attorneys general sued over a Trump executive order that attempted to get the Election Assistance Commission to verify the citizenship of voters and not count mail ballots that arrive after Election Day.
6. Sensitive Data Lawsuit
In February, 19 Democrat-led states sued the Treasury Department in federal court in New York, alleging the department violated federal law by granting Elon Musk’s aides in the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency access to a federal payment database.
The states claimed that DOGE’s access increased the likelihood that confidential information about recipients of the payments could be exposed publicly.
Spokespersons for Governors Safeguarding Democracy did not respond to inquiries for this story. The Daily Signal also contacted the offices of governors and attorneys general for Arizona, Colorado, and Illinois for this story. None responded by publication time.
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