State AG is hiring lawyers and prioritizing battles with US government

President Donald Trump’s government has his own line in California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s budget.

It funds 19 additional attorneys and 12 legal secretaries.

Tucked between the California Department of Justice’s funding source breakdown and new money for the CalGANGS database is $6.5 million for “Legal Resources for Federal Actions.”

There was no such line in last year’s budget. Gov. Jerry Brown specifically requested this money from the Legislature during budget negotiations in May. He said it would give Becerra more “latitude” as he battled the U.S. government on topics like immigration and health care.

Those battles are coming with increasing speed and intensity.

Just over eight months into his tenure, Becerra has directly sued U.S. government agencies at least a dozen times. This doesn’t count the times — at least 26 and counting — that Becerra has filed amicus briefs in existing cases or added his name to actions filed by other state attorneys general.

Becerra has sued the federal government directly at least eight times since mid-June. Indeed, if he maintains that pace — and if he wins reelection next year — he will easily surpass the 48 lawsuits then-Texas attorney general, now governor, Greg Abbott filed against the U.S. government during President Barack Obama’s administration.

Most of these cases are concerned with either immigration or environmental policy. Another was the successful attempt led by Becerra and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to intervene in an important Affordable Care Act case, House v. Price, 14-CV01967 (D.C. Court of Appeals, filed Nov. 21, 2014).

It’s unusual but understandable that the battle against Trump’s policies would get a line in the budget, said former Attorney General Bill Lockyer. Now of counsel in the Irvine office of Brown Rudnick LLP, Lockyer served in Becerra’s job from 1999 to 2007. He fought numerous court battles with the government under President George W. Bush’s administration.

“There could have been a line item [for Bush], but I don’t remember,” Lockyer said. “Budgets are typically done by practice area.”

These practice areas include the attorney general’s civil rights and environmental law divisions. Creating a line specifically for this additional funding allows for flexibility, Lockyer said. He added that it also signals to these divisions that their budgets won’t be diverted.

“It’s a way of reassuring stakeholders and staff that there is a continuing commitment to traditional lawyering,” Lockyer said.

Republicans in the Legislature have frequently objected to this focus on fighting Trump. Some have warned against endangering the state’s share of federal funding.

Sen. Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, spoke out against Becerra’s confirmation in January. He said Becerra’s stands on immigration policy would protect criminals and endanger California citizens.

“When you’re the top cop, you have to enforce the law to the full extent,” Anderson said on the Senate floor. “You have to go out of the way for the 38 million Californians to ensure their lives are not at risk.”

Some of the cases brought by Becerra’s office parallel complaints filed by environmental groups, civil rights organizations or others.

A prime example is the complaint he recently filed challenging the constitutionality of Trump’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. California v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 17-CV05235 (N.D. Cal., filed Sept. 11, 2017).

Days later, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Public Counsel sued in the same venue on behalf of six program recipients.

“I don’t think you can overstate the importance of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the state of California in cases like the DACA case,” said Mark Rosenbaum, director of Public Counsel’s Opportunity Under Law program.

But Rosenbaum noted the resources of the attorney general’s office bring more practical benefits as well.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco has grouped the two cases together with two similar complaints. Next week, Rosenbaum said, attorneys with Becerra’s office will help give Alsup a presentation on how the program works.

“It adds a voice, but it is a really loud voice,” Rosenbaum said. “One quarter of all DACA recipients are in California.”

Meanwhile, the voices of lawyers hired by Becerra are slowly becoming more prominent.

Of the more than three dozen Department of Justice lawyers listed as attorneys of record in briefs filed against the U.S. government, the vast majority are holdovers from the era of former Attorney General Kamala D. Harris or before.

For instance, David Zonana was the one department veteran listed among the 14 members of Becerra’s executive team announced in May. The special assistant attorney general for environmental law has shown up on multiple cases.

But new names are starting to appear as well. Some of these attorneys worked for the U.S. Department of Justice under Obama.

Ronald H. Lee joined Becerra’s civil rights division in March, and is one of the attorneys listed in Becerra’s DACA case. Lee was a trial attorney with the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 2010 to 2017.

Two spots below Lee on the filing is Shubhra Shivpuri. She spent about three years prosecuting Medicare fraud and white-collar crime cases as an assistant U.S. attorney.

Becerra’s office was consulted for this story, but did not provide further information on whether all of the new positions had been filled, or if they would need additional funding for cases against the federal government or to handle the office’s traditional responsibilities.