The Weaponization of the Courts: Inside the Democrats’ Coordinated Lawfare Playbook

An Orchestrated Coalition of Federal Unions and Liberal Nonprofits has Mounted a Coordinated Lawfare Campaign to Undermine President Trump

The Coordinated Lawfare Against President Trump

Thursday, February 13th, 2025: By Walter Curt

Since November 2024—indeed, as soon as it was clear that he would be re-elected—left-wing activists and legal operatives have been on the move, forming powerful alliances to undercut, obstruct, and ultimately derail the Trump administration’s agenda. For far too long, these legal hit squads have operated in the shadows, quietly receiving funding and support from an interconnected web of organizations with direct ties to the Democratic Party, all while maintaining a veneer of impartiality. But the truth is coming out, and the evidence points to a deliberate, premeditated effort to hamper the work of the duly elected President of the United States.

A significant catalyst in this campaign is Marc Elias, the chief legal counsel for the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Elias, who spearheaded the push for universal mail-in ballots and various constitutional challenges across the country, has been a central figure in Democratic lawfare strategies for years. In December 2024, he launched a group called Civil Service Strong, a coalition of civil society institutions and organizations representing 2.2 million federal government civil servants. This new entity is laser-focused on using lawsuits to block and undermine President Trump’s second-term agenda. By definition, federal employees are supposed to serve the administration and the American people, not engage in organized political resistance. Yet Civil Service Strong has become precisely the clearinghouse for exactly that kind of subversion.

Under Civil Service Strong’s umbrella are names that will be familiar to keen observers of liberal lawfare. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington (CREW), Democracy Forward, the Government Accountability Project, the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), and the State Democracy Defenders Fund (SDDF) are all part of this coalition. Anyone paying close attention to who is filing nearly every lawsuit challenging the Trump administration in its second term will notice that they come from this group. It’s the same cast of characters from the President’s first term, now more united and better organized to obstruct his policies at every turn.

Democracy Forward stands out in particular. Its Board of Directors includes Marc Elias himself and key Democratic figures such as Ron Klain, the former chief of staff to President Biden, and Mindy Myers, the campaign manager for Elizabeth Warren and later the head of the DSCC. Another board member, Tania Faransso of WilmerHale—one of the law firms involved in lawsuits against the Trump administration—once clerked for Judge Royce Lamberth. Notably, Lamberth recently blocked the Trump administration from transferring transgender prisoners to facilities matching their biological sex. These connections speak volumes: Democracy Forward has managed to intertwine itself with powerful legal circles, ensuring the deck is stacked against the Trump administration in numerous court battles.

The Government Accountability Project (GAP) is another key pillar of this anti-Trump web. Its Board of Directors is teeming with politically active attorneys and academics, including Richard Salzman of Heller, Huron, Chertkof & Salzman PLLC—yet another firm behind lawsuits against the administration. Through these orchestrated legal maneuvers, GAP has repeatedly challenged the President’s policies, often invoking the language of “accountability” while promoting only one side of the story: that of the entrenched D.C. bureaucracy.

Meanwhile, the State Democracy Defenders Fund (SDDF), where Norm Eisen and Marc Elias reappear, aims to bring together state-level actors—attorneys general, activist groups, and well-connected political strategists—to resist Trump’s agenda. SDDF’s leadership is also stocked with career progressive activists like Susan Corke, who has an extensive résumé fighting what she labels “threats to democracy.” She has worked with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)—an organization that controversially labeled Moms for Liberty as an extremist group—and with the German Marshall Fund, Freedom House, and the Biden White House’s counterterrorism team. Another name on the SDDF’s affiliated Action board is Bill Kristol, once a conservative commentator who has now found common cause with these anti-Trump actors.

One of the most troubling aspects of this entire network is the federal unions, which in December 2024 banded together under the leadership of Marc Elias to create a legal coalition explicitly designed to challenge the President’s agenda from day one. This move underscores just how deeply entrenched the opposition is. Rather than respecting the electoral process, they choose to wage legal battles at every step, attempting to stall, dilute, or altogether negate duly enacted executive orders and policy shifts.

The notion that this entire effort is improvised or reactionary is false. There is ample evidence of premeditation and strategic planning. Look no further than the initiative called Democracy 2025, launched by Democracy Forward, which has mobilized over 800 lawyers across 280 organizations to form a bulwark against Trump’s second-term policies. They identified 600 potential legal challenges before the President could even finish taking the Oath of Office. They are focusing on abortion, healthcare, climate regulations, labor rights, and immigration—essentially every major policy area. By studying the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 framework, they have meticulously mapped out possible lines of legal attack. This is not a spontaneous reaction; it is a carefully orchestrated plan, coordinated from the highest levels of Democratic Party legal apparatus.

Not content with legal warfare in Washington, Democracy Forward has partnered with Governors Safeguarding Democracy (GSD), a group formed by Governors J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Jared Polis of Colorado. This coalition aims to coordinate state-level resistance, focusing on election systems, state courts, and executive agencies—three critical pillars of governance. Operating under the umbrella of the Governors Action Alliance (GovAct), which is funded by grants and private contributions, GSD recently received a hefty $500,000 from the Democracy Fund (founded by billionaire Pierre Omidyar). Their board includes former governors like Arne Carlson, Jim Doyle, Deval Patrick, Kathleen Sebelius, and William F. Weld, as well as Sally Yates, the former Deputy Attorney General who famously defied President Trump’s travel ban in 2017. Their collaboration with Democracy Forward is a clear sign that opposition is not merely local or decentralized; it is nationwide, encompassing powerful politicians and wealthy backers.

In the face of this pervasive legal onslaught, it is long overdue that conservatives and supporters of President Trump go on offense. We have played defense for far too long, constantly reacting to suits and motions that seek to tie up the administration in endless litigation. Lawfare has become the favored weapon of those who cannot secure their agenda through free and fair elections. Instead, they turn to the courts, leveraging partisan judges and an army of lawyers to impose their will on an unwilling electorate. That the current wave of lawsuits is systematically orchestrated by groups led by Marc Elias and Norm Eisen is no conspiracy theory—it is a matter of public record, complete with press releases, board memberships, and court filings.

These individuals and organizations should not be permitted to operate with impunity. They have chosen the path of perpetual litigation as a way to challenge the will of the people, expressed through a democratic election. By going after President Trump with a barrage of lawsuits from day one, they have opened the door to being investigated themselves. Indeed, the brazen coordination between federal unions, nonprofit organizations, and law firms with explicit Democratic ties raises serious ethical and legal questions. If they claim their actions are purely to uphold “democracy,” why conceal the well-oiled machinery that orchestrates their lawsuits? Why the revolving door of board members and attorneys who seamlessly transition between the DNC, private law practices, and these supposedly “independent” watchdog groups?

It is time that every American, regardless of political affiliation, understand that this lawfare is not about protecting civil servants or safeguarding democracy. It is about power—maintaining the influence of entrenched bureaucracies and political elites who feel threatened by any challenge to their longstanding control. These groups have shown that they are willing to use the courts as a political weapon. They have demonstrated a willingness to mobilize vast resources to undermine the President’s constitutional authority.

Enough is enough. Let the media shine a bright spotlight on Marc Elias, Norm Eisen, and the network of organizations—Civil Service Strong, Democracy Forward, the Government Accountability Project, and the State Democracy Defenders Fund, among others—that are behind these lawsuits. The American people deserve to see the entire chain of connections, from Democratic Party insiders to federal unions to activist law firms. Our country depends on checks and balances, but it also depends on fair play and the sanctity of the ballot box. When legal actions are coordinated to stifle and strangle an administration’s every policy from the moment it takes office, it is an assault on the republic itself.

These groups claim to be defenders of democracy, but their tactics speak louder than their slogans. It’s time to push back with equal resolve. Investigate them, expose their funding sources, and hold them accountable for undermining the will of the American people. Coordinated lawfare should not remain a hidden force overshadowing our electoral process and governance. Let us meet their brazenness with clarity and conviction: they have chosen to wage war in the courts, and they should be prepared to face the legal and public scrutiny that comes with it.