Attorney General outlines state litigation strategy against federal actions, urges public education and support for civil legal work

Attorney General Peter Neronha told the Rhode Island Commission on Prejudice and Bias that his office is pursuing suits against the federal administration when (1) the administration's action is demonstrably unlawful, (2) the action harms Rhode Islanders, and (3) the state has legal standing to sue.

Neronha described recent litigation and legal posture. He said the office joined cases challenging an executive-order effort to end birthright citizenship and a separate action when the administration sought to freeze federal funding that would otherwise flow to Rhode Island. "We believed that the president's attempt to do away with birthright citizenship by executive order directly violated the Fourteenth Amendment," Neronha said, and his office joined other state lawsuits. He said the funding action included Medicaid and other federal dollars and that his office's…