About this Site - State Litigation and AG Activity Database

State AGs maintain an unusual role at the crossroads of law and politics.

In addition to serving as their jurisdiction’s chief legal representative in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and five territories, AGs perform a number of important duties combining executive, legislative, and judicial functions.

These duties include conducting litigation in the name of the state, issuing quasi-judicial opinions clarifying the law for government officials and private entities, and acting as legislative advocates and policymakers in areas concerning the public interest.

State AGs are elected in 43 states and D.C. All serve important

legal and political roles in their states as well as in national policy.

Beginning in the last two decades of the twentieth century, state AGs have increasingly coordinated their efforts to intervene in national politics.

This includes collaborating on multistate legal actions against private corporations and the federal government. Although formally fashioned as coordinated law “enforcement,” these efforts have increasingly become a way for AGs to influence national policies.

This mission of this site is to provide a resource on state AG activities for lawyers, journalists, scholars, and others interested in these increasingly important state actors.

On the site, you will find information on the current and past occupants of state AG offices, as well as scholarship examining their activities. You will also find up-to-date-lists of multistate lawsuits against the federal government, settlements with corporations, amcius brief filings, sign-on letters, and more.

This site was created and is maintained by Dr. Paul Nolette, Associate Professor of Political Science at Marquette University.

Number of Multistate Lawsuits vs. the Federal Government, 1980-2019

AttorneysGeneral.org