Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he’ll sue if President-elect Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress try to circumvent Minnesota law.

The legal threat puts Ellison and other Democratic attorneys general in a familiar position as Trump is preparing to start his second term in January.

During Trump’s first term, Ellison signed onto several lawsuits pushing back on Republican policy changes in Washington — including immigrant access to government health programs, environmental review standards and health care discrimination.

Ellison said he’s now worried Trump will target immigrants and people of color when the president-elect takes office in January. Ellison also wants to safeguard Minnesota’s laws related to abortion and gender-affirming care.

“I didn’t run for attorney general’s office twice so that I could sue Trump. That’s not what I am here for,” Ellison told reporters after an unrelated press conference on Tuesday. “But if he violates the rights of people, we’re going to sue. It’s as simple as that. He should know that we’ve done it before. We’ll do it again.”

Ellison said he hopes Trump and congressional Republicans would avoid writing policies that override state laws since some Republicans — including Trump — have said that abortion policy should be up to the states.

Ellison’s comments come a week after Gov. Tim Walz told supporters that he’s ready to “stand up and fight” if the Trump administration brings a “hateful agenda” to the state. Walz made the comments during his first state appearance after Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz in the presidential election.

Walz and Ellison will also have a smaller group of Democrats to work with in the Minnesota Legislature next year. DFLers maintained their one-vote hold on the Senate but stood to enter the House tied with Republicans. Minnesota House leaders are currently negotiating a power-sharing agreement after neither party won the majority last week.

Related Articles

Students at St. Paul schools among those receiving texts containing hate speech

MN attorney general warns of claim sharks scam targeting veterans benefits

Minnesota representative sues Keith Ellison, says deepfake ban violates First Amendment

MN attorney general files fraud lawsuit against developer behind Lakeville housing project aimed at Somali-Americans

AG Keith Ellison asks court to supervise Rainbow Health dissolution