High Country Advocate Staff Report
Since President Trump took office in January 2025, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has joined or filed approximately 40 lawsuits against the Trump administration—more than one per week. Courts have issued favorable preliminary rulings in about 57% of cases. Weiser touts these statistics as evidence he’s protecting Colorado from federal overreach.
But there’s a problem: even when Weiser wins in court, the Trump administration often ignores or circumvents the orders. Meanwhile, his gubernatorial campaign—the apparent motivation for this lawsuit blitz—appears doomed following U.S. Senator Michael Bennet’s entry into the race in April 2025.
The Numbers Tell Two Stories
Weiser has dramatically escalated his litigation against Trump’s second administration compared to the first term, when he filed just 11 lawsuits over four years. The current pace of 40 lawsuits in 10 months represents a nearly fourfold increase.
These lawsuits follow a predictable pattern: the same coalition of 19-22 Democratic attorneys general file together, challenging executive orders on issues ranging from birthright citizenship to federal funding freezes to SNAP benefits. The cases generate press releases, news coverage, and campaign talking points for Weiser, who announced his gubernatorial candidacy on January 2, 2025—the same month Trump took office.
But do the lawsuits actually protect Coloradans? The evidence suggests otherwise.
When “Winning” Means Nothing
Take the SNAP benefits case. In late October 2025, Weiser joined 22 other attorneys general suing to force the Trump administration to maintain food assistance during a government shutdown. Federal judges issued orders requiring the administration to pay benefits. But as of November 1, SNAP benefits still didn’t hit recipients’ accounts as scheduled. Judge Jack McConnell had to issue multiple orders, and even then, the administration initially only agreed to partial payments—directly violating the court’s directive.
The federal funding freeze tells a similar story. On February 7, 2025, Weiser and 22 other attorneys general filed a motion alleging the Trump administration wasn’t complying with a court order to unfreeze federal funds. They presented evidence that FEMA continued restricting more than 215 federal grants despite a preliminary injunction. Judge McConnell found “undisputed evidence” that FEMA violated his order, yet the freeze continued through bureaucratic “manual review processes.”
Plaintiffs have alleged the Trump administration violated or ignored court orders on at least six occasions in the first three months of 2025 alone. Yet no one has been held in contempt.
Courts Are “Helpless”
A former federal appellate judge admitted the uncomfortable truth: “At the end of the day, courts are helpless.” U.S. Marshals, who typically enforce federal court orders, report to the President. If the administration directs law enforcement to delay or refuse enforcement, there’s little judges can do beyond issuing more orders—which are also ignored.
This raises serious questions about whether Weiser’s lawsuit strategy serves any purpose beyond generating campaign material. The 57% success rate looks impressive in press releases, but it’s meaningless when those court victories don’t translate to actual compliance or protection for Colorado families.
The Political Timeline
The timing of Weiser’s litigation surge is impossible to ignore. He announced his gubernatorial candidacy on January 2, 2025, becoming the first major Democratic candidate to enter the race to replace term-limited Governor Jared Polis. That same month, Trump took office, and Weiser’s lawsuit factory kicked into high gear.
Early polling in December 2024 showed Weiser in last place among potential Democratic candidates at just 8%, trailing U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse (20%), Secretary of State Jena Griswold (16%), and Ambassador Ken Salazar (11%), with 37% of voters undecided. Worse still, 37% of respondents had never even heard of Weiser.
The high-profile Trump lawsuits provided a solution to his name recognition problem. Each lawsuit generates news coverage, keeps his name in headlines, and positions him as a “resistance” leader—exactly what a struggling gubernatorial candidate needs.
But then the bottom fell out. On April 11, 2025, Senator Michael Bennet announced his own gubernatorial bid. Bennet immediately secured endorsements from Neguse, Crow, Senator John Hickenlooper, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, and legislative leaders. Griswold announced she would run for attorney general instead. Weiser’s gubernatorial ambitions effectively ended that day.
Yet the lawsuit machine continues, raising the question: if this strategy was designed to boost his gubernatorial campaign, why keep spending taxpayer resources on it after that campaign became unwinnable?
The Coalition Approach
Weiser rarely files alone—nearly every lawsuit involves the same coalition of 19-22 Democratic attorneys general from California, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Washington. This pattern mirrors what Republican attorneys general did during the Obama and Biden administrations. The coalition distributes legal costs, but it also reveals these aren’t uniquely Colorado concerns requiring the state’s top lawyer to personally intervene.
What About Colorado’s Real Problems?
While Weiser focuses on federal litigation, Colorado’s crisis deepens. The state ranks 7th highest nationally in violent crime and 2nd highest in property crime. Fentanyl overdoses increased 900% from 2018 (when Weiser took office) to 2023—yet Weiser cites his opioid response as “stellar,” based on praise from comedian John Oliver, whose HBO show reaches 0.057% of viewers.
Weiser acknowledged his office is stretched thin, hiring three additional lawyers specifically for Trump cases. If the office already struggles with its “ordinary work,” should it be taking on 40 federal lawsuits that produce court orders the administration ignores anyway?
The 2024 Ballot Case: A Preview
Before Trump’s second term even began, Colorado’s attempt to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot provided a preview of the limitations of lawfare against Trump.
In December 2023, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that Trump was disqualified under the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause, ordering Secretary of State Jena Griswold not to certify his candidacy. The decision drew furious condemnations—and not just from Republicans. Even some centrist and liberal commentators warned about the implications.
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed the decision on March 4, 2024, ruling that Congress, not states, is responsible for enforcing the 14th Amendment against federal candidates. The case generated massive publicity and positioned Colorado Democrats as Trump antagonists, but ultimately accomplished nothing except cementing the state’s blue-state resistance image.
Notably, Weiser wasn’t directly involved in that case—it was filed by Colorado voters backed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. But the pattern holds: high-profile litigation, favorable initial rulings from sympathetic judges, appeals to higher courts, and ultimately, no practical impact on Trump’s ability to pursue his agenda.
The Bottom Line
Phil Weiser has spent enormous taxpayer resources on lawsuits that produce court orders the Trump administration regularly ignores. The “wins” generate press releases but fail to produce tangible results for Coloradans.
His gubernatorial campaign—the apparent motivation for this lawsuit blitz—is effectively over following Senator Bennet’s entry. Yet the same coalition of Democratic attorneys general keeps filing predictable lawsuits against every Trump executive order. When a former federal judge admits “courts are helpless” to enforce their own orders, continuing this strategy looks less like protecting Colorado and more like political theater.
Coloradans deserve an attorney general focused on the state’s actual crises: crime and drug overdoses. Instead, they have one pursuing a national political agenda that isn’t working, to boost a gubernatorial campaign that’s already failed.
The question isn’t whether Weiser’s lawsuits are winning in court. It’s whether winning in court matters when nothing actually changes—and whether Colorado can afford an attorney general more interested in making headlines than making a difference.
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