Nevada has joined 40 lawsuits against the Trump administration since the president took office nearly a year ago and have prevailed so far in more than half of them, Attorney General Aaron Ford said in a press conference where he called the president’s actions unlawful, unconstitutional, and, at times, morally bankrupt.

“The federal government took actions without concern for the consequences to Nevadans. President (Donald) Trump attempted to rip away vital funding without caring what programs were decimated,” Ford said. “He attempted to rewrite the Constitution with the stroke of his pen, and he attempted to destroy the ability of Nevadans and need to put food on the table, and that’s not even an exhaustive list.”

Ford said he held the Jan. 13 press conference as a status update for the lawsuits, but he also used his spot at the lectern as a chance to highlight his differences from Gov. Joe Lombardo, who is seeking re-election. Ford, a Democrat, will face Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill in the June 9 gubernatorial primary.

“While the governor has called these lawsuits ‘unfortunate,’ what I hope I have signaled to both the governor and the president is that every time the federal government oversteps, one of us is going to step up, and it’s not going to be (Lombardo),” Ford said.

Ford said of the 40 lawsuits that Nevada has joined, 25 of them have secured permanent or temporary injunctions against the administration’s actions. Democratic attorneys general have filed more than 70 lawsuits against the administration since Trump was inaugurated in January 2025, and 51 of them have received court orders in favor of the states.

The White House did not back down from its priorities in a Thursday statement.

“With well over 20 Supreme Court victories, the Trump Administration’s policies have been consistently upheld by the Supreme Court as lawful despite an unprecedented number of legal challenges and unlawful lower court rulings,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. “The President will continue implementing the policy agenda that the American people voted for in November and will continue to be vindicated by higher courts when liberal activist judges and Democrat politicians attempt to intervene.”

The attorney general also used his press conference to push back against criticism of the lawsuits’ costs to taxpayers. He said his office — which is constitutionally independent from the governor’s office — has stayed within its approved budget of roughly $221.7 million budget for the 2025-2027 biennium.

“No new positions have been added, and no expenses outside of the normal litigation fees, such as court filing fees, have been incurred,” Ford said. “Second and more importantly, the cost to the state for not pursuing this litigation would have been astronomical.”

He pointed to several successful rulings in favor of Nevada and its peer states in which federal judges demanded the return of funds and grants to the states and other recipients, which he said totaled more than $60 million in savings, not including the return of funds from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

“If it weren’t for our lawsuit, that money would not have been restored to the 500,000 Nevadans who depended upon it,” Ford said. “This should be something that every Nevadan remembers: We worked to get those funds back, because no parent in this state should have to watch their child go hungry.”

Other frozen funding released back to the states included $4.1 million for funding to the AmeriCorps volunteer service program, nearly $7.5 million to Nevada State University, and more than $19.5 million for emergency management performance and homeland security grants.

Lombardo’s campaign declined an interview request, instead referring a reporter to the Better Nevada political action committee. Spokesman John Burke said the attorney general was spending time on partisan lawsuits.

“Nevadans don’t want a woke, empty-suit politician leading the state,” Burke said in the statement. “They deserve real leadership, and that’s exactly what they have in Governor Joe Lombardo.”

Fred Lokken, a political science professor at Truckee Meadows Community College, said the midterm election cycle is likely driving Ford’s desire to draw attention to the legal action.

“They’re leaning on the things that they’re doing,” Lokken said. “They appeal to different bases. They’re both just trying to find out what the issue of the campaign will be. But nonpartisans will be the deciding factors.”

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.