State AGs Unite Against Robocalls

“‘I think we can give all the credit to the robocallers,’ said former Maine Attorney General James Tierney, founder of StateAG.org, an educational group that studies the offices of state attorneys general. ‘They have been able to do the politically impossible feat: They have been able to unite the attorneys general when they don’t unite on anything else. I don’t know who they are, or what country they are in, but everybody hates robocallers.

’[The AGs] are going to lose the pro-robocall vote, but I think they are willing to take the risk,’ said Tierney, a Democrat.”

Elaine S. Povich, “State Attorneys General Unite Against Robocalls,” Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts, August 15, 2022.

Don't Mess with Texas: Texas enters the Twitter deal

“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.

‘A world of hurt’: 39 states to investigate Juul's marketing

“The scope of the investigation by dozens of states leaves Juul with little choice but to change its marketing practices, said James Tierney, a former attorney general of Maine.

’When you see these kinds of numbers, it means they’re in a world of hurt,’ said Tierney, a lecturer at Harvard Law School. ‘They can’t seriously litigate this.’”

• Dave Collins and Matthew Perrone for The Associated Press, “'A world of hurt': 39 states to investigate Juul's marketing,” The New York Times Online, February 25, 2020.

New state attorneys general to ramp up consumer protection fight

“‘The election results across the country sent a message to attorneys general that you better have a robust consumer division,’ James Tierney, a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, who served for 10 years as attorney general in Maine, said in an interview. ‘I think that goes to all attorneys general in both political parties.’”

— FTCWatch

Kirk Victor, “New state attorneys general to ramp up consumer protection fight,” Issue 951, FTCWatch (newsletter), December 3, 2018.