Rob Bonta
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has filed 72-plus suits against the Trump administration and is now urging SCOTUS to keep a stay on Trump's USPS voter-list order while co-leading a 25-state tariff challenge. He also leads a 12-state antitrust suit blocking the $110B Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
Rob Bonta is running the most expansive legal campaign of any state attorney general against the Trump administration, with 72-plus suits filed and new ones landing weekly. As of August 4, he is leading Democratic state officials urging the Supreme Court to keep a stay on Trump's March 31 executive order directing USPS to collect voter lists and restrict mail ballots, arguing it unconstitutionally intrudes on state election administration and would sow midterm confusion. A day earlier he co-led a 25-state lawsuit in the Court of International Trade blocking Trump's July 24 Section 301 tariffs on roughly 60 trading partners, calling it the third illegal tariff attempt he has sued over.
On elections, Bonta has already notched wins: a permanent Boston injunction blocking Trump's proof-of-citizenship executive order and a separate ruling blocking the USPS voter-list directive. He is also in a direct legal clash with Assemblymember Carl DeMaio over the ballot title for Prop 39, California's voter-ID initiative. DeMaio sued Bonta for rewriting the title to say it "prohibits citizens from voting unless they present government-issued identification," which DeMaio calls election rigging; Bonta says the wording is routine and more accurate, applied to all nine November initiatives.
Beyond elections and trade, Bonta leads a 12-state antitrust suit blocking Paramount Skydance's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. He secured a 14-day temporary restraining order on July 20 and now faces a March 2027 trial set by Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín. Bonta's coalition and the Writers Guild argue the deal harms theatrical-distribution and writing-labor competition, while CEO David Ellison calls it lawful and pro-competitive. Bonta has flagged what he calls "red flags in the air everywhere," pointing to the deal's $24 billion in Gulf-state financing and parallel UK and EU scrutiny.
His docket also includes a 25-state suit against FEMA for conditioning $1 billion-plus in disaster grants on election and immigration mandates, a 25-state challenge to CMS and Mehmet Oz's Medicaid work-requirement rule, a pending suit over Interior's termination of California offshore wind leases, and a Clean Air Act waiver fight against EPA's Lee Zeldin. He co-filed a suit over a Gilroy ICE facility and secured a voluntary construction pause through September 9.
On consumer protection, Bonta pressured Amazon to halt sales of certain high-speed e-motorcycles in California and led a coalition that pushed Shopify to ban all vape sales globally. He did absorb a state-court loss: a San Francisco judge struck down his cardroom gaming regulations as exceeding the Gambling Control Act. His office said it is reviewing legal options, caught between tribal gaming exclusivity claims and cardroom revenue.
On their plate
Bonta is leading Democratic state officials urging the Supreme Court to keep a stay on Trump's March 31 executive order directing USPS to collect voter lists and restrict mail ballots. He argues it is unconstitutional state election-administration overreach that would cause midterm confusion.
Bonta co-led a 25-state lawsuit filed August 3 in the Court of International Trade blocking Trump's July 24 Section 301 tariffs of 10-12.5% on 60 trading partners, imposed under forced-labor pretexts. He calls it the third illegal tariff attempt he has sued over.
Bonta leads a 12-state antitrust suit blocking the $110B Paramount Skydance acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. He secured a 14-day TRO on July 20 and faces a March 2027 trial. He has flagged the deal's $24B in Gulf-state financing and parallel UK and EU regulatory scrutiny.
Bonta is in a direct legal clash with Assemblymember Carl DeMaio over Prop 39's ballot title. DeMaio sued Bonta for changing the title to say it prohibits citizens from voting unless they present government-issued identification, calling it election rigging. Bonta defends the wording as routine and more accurate, applied to all nine initiatives.
Bonta led a 25-state plus DC lawsuit filed July 23 in Rhode Island against FEMA and DHS for conditioning $1B-plus in disaster-preparedness grants on states adopting paper-ballot, audit, citizenship-verification, and immigration-enforcement mandates. He argues Trump is using public safety as leverage for a partisan agenda.
Key relationships
Bonta is leading the antitrust suit blocking the Paramount-WBD merger that CEO Ellison defends as lawful and pro-competitive, with a March 2027 trial set.
Bonta is in a direct legal clash with Assemblymember DeMaio over the Prop 39 voter-ID ballot title. DeMaio sued Bonta for rewriting the title, calling it election rigging; Bonta defends the wording as routine and accurate.
Bonta co-led with Rhode Island AG Neronha a 25-state plus DC suit in Massachusetts federal court blocking CMS's interim rule narrowing medical frailty exemptions for Medicaid work requirements.
Bonta co-filed with Santa Clara County Counsel LoPresti a suit against DHS/ICE over a Gilroy ICE facility, securing a voluntary construction pause through September 9.
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