During the first Trump administration from 2017 to 2021, the Vermont attorney general’s office joined in on 54 lawsuits against the federal government, according to data provided by the office.
Fifteen months into Trump’s second term, the state has joined 49 lawsuits against his administration, making Vermont well on track to beat its previous total. In fact, another lawsuit was announced on Friday afternoon just as this story was being edited: Vermont joined a coalition of 14 states and local governments suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its failure to implement standards governing soot.
Jared Carter, a Vermont Law School professor and constitutional law expert, said the rate was “unprecedented” — but he was clear that it isn’t really Vermont that’s acting in an unprecedented manner.
“My view is that these are a response to unprecedented actions by the federal government,” he said. “The scope of what the Trump administration has attempted to do through executive action, for example, is pretty astounding.”
Vermont has joined suits challenging everything from Trump’s tariffs to federal workforce layoffs to the rollback of gender-affirming healthcare, cases that, if successful, could preserve tens of millions of dollars in federal funding for state programs and protect services that Vermonters rely on. But in the winding legal system, whether those early courtroom wins translate into lasting results remains to be seen.
Attorney General Charity Clark and her office have joined in on a wide range of lawsuits generated by multistate coalitions dedicated to pushing back on Trump’s allegedly illegal actions.
“Over the past fifteen months, I truly believe that state attorneys general have served as a bulwark, protecting the Constitution and the rule of law, by blocking dozens of unconstitutional and illegal acts by the Trump Administration,” said Clark, who has served in the role since 2023, in a statement. Clark declined to be interviewed in the story, citing scheduling conflicts.
In an email, Gov. Phil Scott’s press secretary, Amanda Wheeler, said there have been instances where Scott has agreed with Clark’s decision to sign onto lawsuits from other states. There have been times when the two conflicted. In 2025, Clark implied Scott had stalled electric vehicle funds stemming from a lawsuit.
“In some cases, we’ve seen the positive outcomes of those lawsuits which is good news for Vermont,” Wheeler said.
She added, “The Governor has been clear that when it comes to the Trump Administration, he’ll continue to call balls and strikes and stand up for what’s in the best interest of Vermont and Vermonters.”
Data from the attorney general shows that the state has joined lawsuits throughout the past 15 months, with activity peaking in mid-2025. Clark has also filed 53 amicus briefs, or “friend-of-the-court” reports arguing in favor of the plaintiffs.
That gender-affirming care lawsuit has become one of the state’s most clear-cut successes: A federal judge ruled in favor of the coalition on April 18, blocking a rule that would have restricted gender-affirming care for minors.
“This decision is a victory in our ongoing fight for bodily autonomy and the rights of transgender youth,” said Clark in a statement Monday. “We will continue to fight to ensure that gender-affirming care remains safe, effective, and protected.”
But according to a document provided by Amelia Vath, Clark’s senior advisor, few lawsuits have had such a definitive victory. In 19 of the 49 cases, federal judges have ruled in Vermont’s favor, but most of those still have the possibility of an appeal.
“In law, we learn never to pop the champagne bottle,” Carter said. “It’s always going to be an ongoing legal battle.”
Yet looking at the lawsuits so far, he said he believes Vermont has a good “batting average” on the suits it’s part of.
“When you see things like courts granting preliminary injunctions, what that means is a court is telling the Trump administration, ‘You cannot do this,’ or they’re telling the Trump administration, ‘You must do this,’” he said. “So a preliminary injunction is a win for a plaintiff like the state of Vermont and all the other states.”
Even after a win, enforcing court orders has been a challenge with Trump, Carter said. The U.S. Department of Justice “does his bidding” to find loopholes in judicial decisions.
“I think the Trump administration has taken that” to another level “when it comes to trying to figure out ways to work around decisions of the Supreme Court,” he said.
He gave the example of Trump’s tariffs on imported international goods. Vermont was a part of the case in which the Supreme Court struck down the tariffs in March. Trump then immediately attempted to impose new tariffs, leading to yet another lawsuit Vermont joined.
Only two cases have been total failures, according to the attorney general’s records. One was a suit challenging the Trump administration’s defunding of Planned Parenthood, which the plaintiffs withdrew in March. The other was a suit attempting to block mass layoffs of federal employees, a decision one circuit court blocked but another overturned on appeal.
Vermont has yet to take the lead on any of the cases it’s joined, according to the attorney general’s records. It has also joined just a small part of the more than 700 lawsuits against the Trump administration, including 84 led by state plaintiffs, according to Just Security, a law and policy journal.
According to the attorney general’s records, 16 of the lawsuits explicitly mention funding for state programs or federal programs that provide services to Vermonters, such as federal food assistance, natural disaster aid and energy programs.
“Because of these lawsuits, my office has brought back tens of millions of dollars that were illegally withheld from Vermont,” Clark said in her statement. “I am very proud of the hardworking and patriotic lawyers in my office and our united mission to protect Vermont and our country.”
Carter said the direct financial consequences of Trump’s actions mean that these lawsuits seem like a good return on investment. Even non-financial lawsuits are important, though, because they rest on principles of equity and the rule of law, he said.
“Even if you just got a preliminary injunction, and it doesn’t result in money coming into the state, you still stood up on the right side of history and said, ‘What’s going on here is not legal,’” he said.
Carter himself has taken part in legal actions against the federal government before. He said that filing a suit against powerful figures like the president could be “intimidating,” but he also found it empowering.
“Plaintiffs with strong legal arguments and conviction in their constitutional rights can be more powerful than the president,” he said.
Disclosure: Jared Carter has provided pro bono legal assistance to VTDigger.
