An Educational Resource on the Office of State Attorney General
Media engagements by James Tierney on news involving state attorneys general.
“James Tierney, a former Maine attorney general who teaches a Harvard Law School class on the office, said, “What’s different [now from during Trump’s first term in office] is a much higher level of sophistication on all sides.””
Geoff Mulvihill, “Democratic state leaders prepare for a tougher time countering Trump in his second term,” The Associated Press, November 13, 2024
“‘If you’re an AG you have to make sure your team is solid,’ said James Tierney, the former attorney general of Maine.
’If Trump wins, there will be chaos,’ he said.”
Liz Crampton, “Democratic lawyers get ready: ‘If Trump wins, there will be chaos’” Politico, July 3, 2024.
“‘If an AG acts like a congressman, they’re going to get treated like a congressman,’ [Tierney] said, ‘and they won’t get the deference from judges and the bar that an attorney general deserves.’”
“They’re a path to becoming governor, but attorney general jobs are now a destination, too,” The Associated Press, Feb 28, 2024.
“Democratic attorneys-general sued the federal government more times in four years than they had in the previous 16, says Paul Nolette, a political scientist. Republicans took it a step further under Joe Biden, aiming their litigation not just at Democratic policies but at the administrative state itself. Today these lawsuits are masterfully co-ordinated to maximise partisan wins, says James Tierney, a former attorney-general of Maine who teaches at Harvard University. ”
“State attorneys-general are shaping national policy: Despite not being elected to do so,” The Economist, Feb 8, 2024.
“‘This wasn’t one renegade cop or a renegade D.A. There is a systemic problem here,’ Tierney said.”
Ilyssa Daly, Jerry Mitchell and Rachel Axon, “Who Investigates the Sheriff? In Mississippi, Often No One.,” New York Times, December 28, 2023.
“‘It is a very bad practice to allow an advocacy group to represent the state,’ [Tierney] said. “They will represent their true client, the advocacy group, not the state.’”
Chris Geidner, “ADF is providing free legal representation to Idaho in anti-abortion, anti-trans cases,” Law Dork, Decemebr 21, 2023.
“Like many government positions, the role of Attorney General comes with sleepless nights and notable struggles. Tierney described the need for assessing one’s values as a lawyer to discern right from wrong in the pursuit of effective truth-telling.”
Sofia Langlois, "Former Attorney General James Tierney visits UMaine to engage with students," The Maine Campus, November 6, 2023
“No other state gives its attorney general the power to take control of a local police department, said James E. Tierney, a former attorney general of Maine who works with the National Association of Attorneys General to train lawyers new to the position. It is only the second time that a New Jersey attorney general has exercised that power, and it is the first takeover precipitated by accusations of civil rights abuses.
’It’s a very dramatic thing to do,’ Mr. Tierney said.”
Christopher Maag, “For a Notorious Police Department, This Killing Was the Last Straw,” New York Times, May 30, 2023.
“‘This is going to be a big change in the way multistate cases work, because Tom Miller [was] the first stop,’ says James Tierney, who runs a program on state AGs at Harvard Law School. ‘Every corporation comes to Des Moines to find out how serious an issue is. Now there’s no one to talk to, with the balkanization of the American political structure.’”
Alan Greenblatt, “Tom Miller's Career Helped Reshape the Nation's Legal Landscape,” Governing, Jan. 3, 2023.
“Miller’s high-profile role in multistate litigation gave his office unusual influence. ‘He became a very significant national legal figure,’ said James Tierney, a Harvard Law School lecturer and former Maine attorney general, who donated to Miller’s campaign. ‘Iowa punched way, way over its weight.’”
Seth Stern with assistance from Courtney Rozen and Dan Papscun, “Longest-Ever Serving State Attorney General Defeated in Iowa,” US Law Week, Bloomberg Law, November 9, 2022.
“James Tierney, a lecturer at Harvard Law School and former attorney general of Maine, said attorneys general races are particularly important now, when the U.S. Supreme Court is making decisions that are rapidly changing the legal landscape of the United States.
Tierney said attorneys general have unique authority to make arguments in front of the Supreme Court, and as a lawyer for the people of the state, attorneys general have discretion in how they enforce laws and which cases they pursue.
’This is a dramatic moment in the development of the office of attorney general. Who your attorney general is, is going to significantly impact the lives of all the people of Illinois. They may not know it, but it will.’”
Shannon Heffernan, “The election for Illinois’ attorney general comes at a dramatic legal moment,” WBEZ Chicago, October 12, 2022.
“It’s not clear how many county attorneys and district attorneys will decide to enforce or fight their state abortion policies. But that leads to an uncertain legal landscape, said former Maine Attorney General James Tierney, a Democrat who is now a Harvard Law School lecturer. ‘We’re talking real chaos here,’ he said.”
Lauren Weber and Sam Whitehead, “Abortion Is Shaking Up Attorneys General Races and Exposing Limits to Their Powers,” CNN and Kaiser Family Foundation, August 19, 2022.
“Former Maine attorney general James Tierney, now a Harvard Law lecturer, said the strategy of suing the federal government can have a big payoff for the states. It’s much easier, after all, to sue to prevent policy changes than to pass new laws through Congress.
’You get a big bang for your buck,’ said Tierney, a Democrat. ‘You can stop something bad happening or bring money into your state. You can get huge payback.’”
Shelley Murphy and Andrea Estes, “Under Maura Healey, the attorney general’s office sued the Trump administration nearly 100 times. Most of the time, she prevailed.,” Boston Globe, August 14, 2022.
“‘We have 6,000 district attorneys in our country, they are primarily responsible for the day-to-day prosecution of criminal activities,’ Tierney said. ‘Attorney’s general supplement and occasionally override decisions of those district attorneys based on the authority given to the attorney general in a particular state.’
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Our experts say these state and local prosecutors choose not to enforce state law all the time.
’They have huge discretion,’ Tierney said. ‘Every day district attorneys, assistant district attorneys, assistant attorneys general decide to not enforce a law. That is why we choose them.’”
Eliana Block, “'It's just a big colossal mess' | Prosecutors grapple with abortion bans,” VERIFY, WUSA9.com, July 14, 2022.
“James Tierney, a former Democratic attorney general of Maine and Harvard Law School lecturer who has taught courses on state attorneys general, predicted that regulators in progressive-led states ‘will not sit back and do nothing as our planet disintegrates.’
’Rather, they will consider this decision a green light to promulgate un-preempted regulations regarding greenhouse gas emissions,’ Tierney said in an email. ‘The very businesses that rejoice today at the defeat of the EPA and its national standards will soon find their futures in the hands of state officials in Sacramento and Burlington.’”
Mike Tony, “Supreme Court limits EPA in curbing power plant emissions,” Herald-Dispatch Huntington, W.V., June 30, 2022.
“If the Supreme Court chooses to return abortion laws to the states, says former Maine Attorney General James Tierney, it ‘just shows that the Supreme Court really doesn’t have a clue how states work. And so we are going to have a lot of decision makers making different kinds of decisions.’”
Michael Smerconish, “If Roe is overturned, will law enforcement honor the outcome?,” Smerconish, CNN, June 18, 2022.
“It’s not clear that Musk’s demands are anything more than a fishing expedition, nor that the information is actually vital to closing the deal. The same goes for Paxton’s requests: ‘Consumer laws exist to protect consumers from real harm,’ James Tierney, a lecturer at Harvard Law School and a former Maine state attorney general, told DealBook. ‘They do not exist to allow a government official to meddle in ongoing corporate transactions on behalf of a constituent.’”
Andrew Ross Sorkin, Vivian Giang, Stephen Gandel, Lauren Hirsch, Ephrat Livni and Jenny Gross, “Don't Mess with Texas: Texas enters the Twitter deal,” New York Times, June 7, 2022.
“Tierney cautioned that the rhetoric from candidates may not ultimately affect the operations of the office, however.
’You’re seeing a lot of smoke,’ Tierney said. ‘If one of these three people gets elected, they’ll hire two or three people to go sue the president all the time. I don’t know how you can sue any more often than they already doing … but will it actually affect the people of Kansas? Probably not.’”
Jonathan Shorman, “How far will Kansas go to fight Biden? If elected AG, Kobach promises dedicated unit,” The Kansas City Star (TNS), May 31, 2022.
“In most states, local prosecutors are the primary decision makers on what criminal cases to bring in their jurisdictions, but in many cases state attorneys general can usurp that authority if they receive authorization from the governor, said James Tierney, a former Maine attorney general. Some states and their legislatures could test those boundaries, he said.
If Roe is overturned, “we’re going to go through a phase of uncontrolled litigation filed by district attorneys and attorneys general around the country in an unpredictable fashion,” Mr. Tierney said. ”
Laura Kusisto, “With State Abortion Restrictions Looming, Some Officials Promise Not to Enforce Them,” Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2022.
“Former Maine Attorney General James Tierney knows a thing or two about the job. He has been a go-to adviser for state attorneys general and teaches a class on them at Harvard Law School.…
Tierney says attorneys general have immense discretion. They can choose to challenge a restrictive abortion law in court – or defend it.
’It’s always important who sits in the attorney general’s office. Always. Not just political party but what they argue, how they argue,’ Tierney says. ‘Does who sits in the AG’s office end the story? And the answer is clearly no.’
In many states, abortion could carry criminal penalties. What attorneys general typically can’t do is decide whether or not to enforce them.”
Sam Gringlas, “Attorneys general and prosecutors scramble to figure out what comes next if Roe falls,” All Things Considered, NPR, May 16, 2022.