Hawaiʻi Attorney General Anne Lopez updated lawmakers on the state's involvement in 27 ongoing lawsuits against the federal government, including cases regarding immigration, employee layoffs, and federal funding freezes and terminations.
What’s at stake in many of these cases is hundreds of millions of federal dollars that support state programs for transportation infrastructure, public health initiatives and public school education.
The state has been preliminarily successful in many of the lawsuits and has been able to secure several injunctions that have required the federal government to return funds to Hawaiʻi.
Lopez explained that President Donald Trump’s administration has been overstepping its authority.
"The administration is sort of plowing over the idea that we have three coequal branches of government," she told lawmakers on Thursday.
"We're seeing that both with their express willingness to not follow the orders of the court, to make statements that the court doesn't actually have the authority to tell the executive branch what to do, and unfortunately, with a Congress that is unwilling to fight to maintain its part of that balance."
Many of the cases are ongoing — including one in which states have been directed to share Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program applicants’ personal information with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Lopez's office is concerned that the information will be used for immigration enforcement and discourage those who may need food assistance.
