Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes joins 3 more lawsuits against Trump administration

PHOENIX — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes signed the state on to three more multistate lawsuits this week seeking to block recent Trump administration actions.

On Thursday, Mayes and 18 other state attorneys general sued to block President Donald Trump from changing federal election laws.

The next day, she joined two separate lawsuits. The first is a 16-state coalition seeking to prevent the administration from disrupting National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant funding.

The second is a coalition of 20 attorneys general suing to stop the Trump administration from dismantling several federal agencies that support public libraries and museums.

With the latest filings, Arizona is now involved in 11 lawsuits filed this year against the federal government.

Details about elections executive order lawsuit Kris Mayes joined

The first of the three lawsuits Mayes joined this week tackles Trump’s March 25 executive order on elections.

“The elections executive order would … effectively ban states from administering vote-by-mail systems that allow voters to make their choices by election day, upending processes that accommodate more voters, decrease obstacles, and increase voter participation,” Mayes said during a news conference on Thursday. “Arizona’s ballot curing process is thrown into doubt by this executive order.”

She was joined by Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes during the announcement. He said the executive order will make the nation’s elections less secure because consolidating the different methods used by states.

“There are safeguards in the personal identifying information that’s held in some of these voting records,” Fontes said. “Right now, this administration’s executive order is asking us elections officials to turn your personal identifying information in these voter records over to the federal government over to the DOJ.”

Arizona also joins lawsuit filed to protect medical, public health grants

The NIH lawsuit said the agency has terminated large amounts of grants for projects that are currently underway due to their alleged connections to DEI policies.

“The Trump administration’s politically motivated attacks on critical medical and public health research are not only illegal but also profoundly dangerous,” Mayes said in a Friday news release.

This complaint also said NIH has withheld making final decisions on applications that have already received approval. This means states expecting funding for public health projects are being kept in limbo, she said.

“These actions undermine the very foundation of scientific progress and threaten the health and well-being of Arizona communities. I will not stand by as Donald Trump jeopardizes vital research funding,” Mayes said.

Arizona also joins lawsuit to protect libraries, museums

Friday’s second lawsuit challenges a March 14 executive order Trump issued.

“In communities across Arizona, libraries aren’t just a place to borrow books — they’re a lifeline,” Mayes said in a news release. “From high-speed internet access to job training and after-school programs, our libraries rely on federal support to serve the Arizonans who depend on and benefit from them.”

A complaint filed by the coalition said Trump would shut down the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Minority Business Development Agency and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and four other agencies.

“Stripping that support away will widen the divide between the haves and the have-nots — and would especially devastate youth literacy programs that help Arizona’s kids learn to read, grow, and succeed,” Mayes said. “I’ll keep fighting to ensure elite authoritarian politicians in Washington don’t rip away critical resources from Arizonans.”

Arizona is also part of the legal effort to prevent Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing federal payment systems and thwart Trump’s attempts to end birthright citizenship and institute a sweeping freeze of federal funding, as well as several other lawsuits.

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