Photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash

On a Tuesday morning in January 2024, the attorney general of New York filed a lawsuit against a major tech company. By Wednesday afternoon, a coalition of 47 state attorneys general had joined the case. By Friday, stock prices had moved. Nobody waited for Congress to weigh in. Nobody needed permission from the White House.

This isn't an exaggeration of political reality—it's become the central operating principle of American governance. State attorneys general have quietly accumulated a staggering amount of power over the past two decades, and they're now the politicians most likely to actually get things done on issues that matter to ordinary Americans.

The Unexpected Rise of the State AG

Historically, state attorneys general were considered mid-level political positions. They handled divorces, prosecuted local crimes, and served as stepping stones for ambitious politicians looking to climb toward the governor's mansion or Congress. Nobody wrote newspaper columns about state attorneys general. Nobody followed their Twitter accounts.

That changed dramatically around 2010.

When the financial crisis hit and the federal government seemed paralyzed by partisan gridlock, state AGs started filing their own lawsuits against the banks that had caused the disaster. One state attorney general couldn't move the needle much, but forty-eight of them? That got attention. That moved mountains. That resulted in a $25 billion settlement and actual consequences for the financial industry when the SEC seemed content to look the other way.

It was a revelation, and not just to the public—it was a revelation to the attorneys general themselves. They realized they had discovered a loophole in American federalism. When the federal government was broken, they could act. When Congress couldn't pass legislation, they could file lawsuits. When the executive branch refused to enforce the law, they could step in and do it themselves.

Now every major issue has a state AG angle. Climate change? Forty-plus attorneys general suing oil companies over climate fraud. Big Tech? Multiple coordinated investigations into monopolistic practices. Abortion rights? AGs from blue states are fighting federal restrictions, while AGs from red states are aggressively prosecuting people who help others access abortion care.

How AGs Beat Congress at Its Own Game

There's a reason state attorneys general have become more influential than most members of Congress: they can actually accomplish things.

Consider the contrast. A U.S. Representative from Ohio wants to regulate social media algorithms. Good luck. They'll draft a bill. It'll die in committee. Even if it passes the House, the Senate won't touch it. Lobbyists will kill it. Years pass. Nothing happens.

Now imagine Ohio's attorney general decides that social media algorithms are unfairly targeting minors and constitute consumer fraud under state law. She files a lawsuit. Suddenly, executives are taking depositions. Documents get subpoenaed. Other attorneys general join in. The company settles for $100 million and agrees to change its practices. Done. One year. Actually results.

This pattern has repeated itself dozens of times. When the EPA couldn't be trusted to enforce clean air standards during a particular presidential administration, state attorneys general filed their own suits. When the federal government wouldn't investigate pharmaceutical companies for opioid marketing practices, state attorneys general did. The result was a $26 billion settlement in 2022—the largest public health settlement in American history—negotiated not by Congress or the federal government, but by a coalition of state legal offices.

The Downside of Decentralized Power

Of course, concentrated power in the hands of state executives has its problems.

Consider that different states now have radically different legal standards for the same behavior. A company that's accused of unfair practices in California faces entirely different rules than the same company in Texas. This creates administrative nightmares for national businesses and actually fragments the consumer protections that were supposed to be unified.

There's also a darker side: state attorneys general can use their power for purely partisan purposes. During the Trump administration, Republican AGs filed coordinated lawsuits against federal environmental regulations they opposed. Under Biden, Democratic AGs have filed similar suits against federal policies they dislike. It's become a tool of partisan combat rather than sober governance.

And perhaps most troublingly, state attorneys general are elected officials. They're accountable to voters in their states, not to the nation as a whole. When the New York attorney general files a lawsuit that affects every company in America, voters in Montana didn't get a say in that decision. The structure works great when you agree with the outcome, and feels deeply undemocratic when you don't.

What It Means for the Future

The rise of state attorneys general as power brokers reflects something deeper about American politics: Congress is broken, and everyone knows it. When institutions fail, other institutions rush to fill the void.

For those watching politics from Washington, this shift can seem invisible. The news media focuses on presidential drama and congressional votes. But the actual reshaping of American policy increasingly happens in state courthouse battles and multistate litigation coalitions.

It's worth considering how this change connects to broader shifts in how our politics function. State legislatures have already become the real power centers for electoral reform and voting rules, and now state attorneys general are becoming the power centers for policy enforcement and corporate regulation.

The question isn't whether this trend will continue—it will, because federal institutions remain dysfunctional. The question is whether Americans will start paying attention to who their state attorney general is, because that person now has more influence over daily life than most members of Congress.

Start paying attention. These elections matter more than you think.