Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has been credited with helping lead the “legal resistance” against Trump during his second term.
She’s joined 18 multi-state lawsuits against the Administration since January, including challenging their effort to ditch birthright citizenship, the actions of Elon Musk’s DOGE, RFK Jr. dismantling the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Management and Budget freeze on federal dollars, and more.
“Unfortunately, we were a little bit more, for better or worse — we were more prepared for the second administration than the first,” Nessel tells Lincoln Square Executive Editor Susan J. Demas. “And candidly, a lot of this came about through a conversation I had with my Democratic colleagues at an event, we were all attending a conference back in February of 2024.
“My very blue state colleagues, were totally assured of a Biden reelection. And I sort of had to break to them as did the other swing state AGs. I don't know that Biden is going to win our state. So I said, ‘Listen, we really have to be ready for this and we have to be as prepared as possible. So right away, we started looking at Project 2025 and trying to be as prepared as possible for what cases we might have to bring.”
Nessel has also been a trailblazer on LGBTQ+ legal rights. Before she was elected, she took on Michigan’s same-sex marriage ban in a case that was rolled into the landmark 2016 Obergefell Supreme Court decision. Nessel talked about why she is concerned that the current Supreme Court will overturn that decision — just as they did with Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Back in 2020, Nessel, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson — who’s running for governor next year will be on Lincoln Square soon — were known as “those women from Michigan” for fighting back against Trump. But Nessel has been critical of Whitmer trying to work with Trump during his second term, calling her approach “dangerous.”
“Obviously, the governor and I have taken some different approaches to handling a second Trump term. I just believe strongly … that when you have someone who has no regard for the law, is not interested in the rule of law, is not interested in obeying court rulings, doesn't even know if he is subject to upholding the Constitution. He has said so himself, despite the fact that he took an oath to do that very thing,” Nessel says. I don't think you can treat him like any regular president who just happens to be of the opposing party.”
Thanks for sticking with us, despite some technical difficulties! The Attorney General said she’s looking forward to coming back to Lincoln Square soon.
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