BALTIMORE — Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has been busy countering executive orders issued since President Donald Trump entered office three weeks ago.

Trump asserts that his election victory provides him with a mandate to implement his campaign agenda. However, Brown says that with Trump as president, the federal government “seems to be at war with the people of America.”

“It’s waking up almost to the experience you have when you wake up to a natural disaster or some other crisis — this sense of urgency, this need to act,” Brown, a Democrat, said of Trump’s new term. “But the troubling aspect of it is that natural disasters are rarely, if ever, avoidable. Many of the crises … are not foreseen, and, perhaps, could be avoided.”

Upon taking office, Trump immediately began sweeping actions to remake the federal government. The Republican president said he ended diversity, equity and inclusion practices to end “illegal discrimination” and “create a society that is blind to color and based on merit.” Trump also ordered massive staff cuts throughout several agencies to combat what he said was wasteful government spending.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has defended the moves as the administration being “good stewards” of taxpayer money. She said the 40,000 federal workers who have accepted buyout offers — which Democrats have warned against — will save Americans tens of millions of dollars.

What Brown is doing

Through the Maryland Defense Act of 2017, Brown has the authority to proceed with civil or criminal lawsuits against the federal government based on actions or inactions it takes against the public interest.

Brown’s predecessor, Attorney General Brian Frosh, sent over 90 letters to former Gov. Larry Hogan informing him of actions he was taking against the first Trump administration.

Though he did not serve as Maryland’s attorney general under the first Trump administration, Brown said that the rate at which the president is issuing these “very harmful” executive orders exceeds what was seen eight years ago. His office has appropriated a little over $1 million for his six-person litigation unit.

Thus far, Brown’s office has taken action against a slew of Trump executive orders.

“We in the Office of the Attorney General evaluate and assess the threat coming from Washington, [D.C.], and we can draw a direct link to the rights and the privileges and the interest of Marylanders,” he said of the filings his office chooses to join or start.

Brown and 18 other attorneys general filed a lawsuit to prohibit Elon Musk and other members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing records in the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s central payment system.

Judges block Trump, DOGE

Over the weekend, a federal judge temporarily blocked Musk and DOGE from accessing those records and required anyone who pulled data from the central payment system to destroy their files. Brown said this was a “critical win,” calling the ability of DOGE officials to root through sensitive financial and federal benefit data “reckless” and “politically motivated.”

“The courts see it for what it is, an abuse of power, and so do we,” he said.

Trump disagreed with the ruling, saying in an interview with Fox News ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday that “it’s crazy.”

The U.S. Treasury manages programs like Medicaid and childcare tax credits. Before DOGE members, only vetted federal government employees had access to the central payment system.

According to Brown, the state of Maryland received $11 billion in federal disbursements in 2024. Its residents, he said, received more than $50 billion.

Other challenges

Brown and other attorneys general also successfully challenged the president’s executive order to end birthright citizenship, which multiple federal judges have blocked.

Trump signed an executive order a week after he was sworn in to pause all federal grant funding and loans, potentially crippling a bevy of public services, scientific and medical research, and other projects across the country.

Joining 22 other attorneys general, Brown sued to stop the funding freeze. He said the cohort won “an early victory” when a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order.

The Trump administration has since pared down the sweeping list of government-funded programs impacted by the freeze. Still, there are potentially severe impacts to higher education and research institutions via cuts in grant funding through the National Institutes of Health.

Brown said this could significantly harm Maryland, which is home to Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland medical and university systems. He said these institutions would be forced to “fill the gap” in funding, which could cause job losses and pauses in medical research.

“We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars that would be blocked, that would undercut the ability to do this important research — much of it life-saving,” he said.

A federal judge ruled Monday that the Trump administration is violating the court-ordered pause on the funding freeze by continuing to cut funding for the National Institutes of Health.

Brown also said that the Trump administration’s effort to slim down the federal workforce through a buyout program will also significantly impact Maryland.

In late January, the Trump administration offered federal employees to resign with seven months of paid leave. Gov. Wes Moore and other political representatives have urged federal workers in Maryland to use caution when considering moving forward with it.

A federal judge extended the deadline to take the offer from Feb. 6 to Feb. 10, when the court will determine if it is legal.

Brown joined several attorneys general in challenging the buyout program, which he said is a “scheme to destabilize the workforce and harm these employees.”

Brown urged federal employees to consult with their union representatives before making a decision, saying that they may have to work without the pay and benefits promised in the face of “a looming federal shutdown” in March and “the discontinuation of federal funds.”

“There are serious questions as to whether the president even has the authority to offer such a buyout,” he said.

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