AG Nick Brown defends multistate suits, previews Supreme Court fight over birthright citizenship and nationwide injunctions

Attorney General Nick Brown used a Seattle University forum to describe why Washington has taken leadership roles in a series of multistate lawsuits challenging federal executive actions, how states choose forums strategically and what’s at stake in the Supreme Court’s upcoming consideration of a birthright-citizenship challenge.

Brown said states decide whether to seek leadership in multistate cases based on prior preparation, subject expertise and office capacity, and by evaluating where precedent may be more favorable. He described coordinated planning that began more than a year ago for possible post-2024 executive actions (referred to in the event as "project 20 25") and said Washington’s prior work on immigration and transgender-health litigation informed its leadership role.

On the birthright-citizenship case, Brown called the legal theory challenging birthright citizenship a “fringe legal theory” but acknowledged difficulty in predicting the Supreme Court’s ruling. "It is very, very hard for me to imagine that the Supreme Court of the United States would overturn birthright citizenship as we know it," he said, while also noting shifts on the Court that have made predicting outcomes more uncertain.

Brown explained nationwide injunctions in accessible terms: a court can issue relief limited to the parties in a case or apply relief nationwide; he noted appellate courts have recently been more reluctant to grant nationwide injunctions and the Supreme Court may decide whether the injunctions in the birthright litigation were appropriate.

He also praised Harvard University and law firms (naming Perkins Coie and others) for taking public stands in litigation and said many large firms declined to participate publicly, which he described as a strategic mistake by those firms. Brown said Washington and allied states will continue to weigh whether to lead or join suits based on legal strength, harm to Washingtonians and resource considerations.

On voting issues, Brown rejected the idea that Washington’s postmark-based mail-in-ballot rule makes the state especially vulnerable in the federal suit that would change election rules: "We're going to win this lawsuit," he said, arguing the case is about preserving states’ sovereign authority to set election standards.

Brown warned of growing executive overreach and criticized what he characterized as recent Department of Justice behavior that risked politicizing career lawyers; he said enforcement of court orders largely works but that in some cases the federal government’s response has warranted motions to enforce judgments.

The forum included questions from Eduardo Penalver and comments about litigation strategy and court selection. No formal legal actions were taken at the event; Brown described ongoing and recently filed litigation.