Trump’s agenda corners Democratic leaders to embrace states’ rights

States’ rights, once a predominant rallying call for conservatives, are under a new form of pressure as President Donald Trump implements his agenda across the country, forcing Democratic leaders into state sovereignty positions often touted by Republican leaders.

Facing a second Trump administration that is exercising federal power more aggressively than any in recent memory, Democratic governors and attorneys general are scrambling to embrace those very constitutional principles as their line of defense. From the streets of Chicago to the locker rooms of Virginia schools, blue states and localities are mounting a full-scale legal resistance to Trump’s expanding reach. Democratic governors like Gavin Newsom in California or JB Pritzker in Illinois challenged Trump’s vows for troop deployments in large-scale metropolitan areas, fighting immigration surges, and suing over funding tied to civil rights policies.