Democratic governors and state attorneys general are dusting off their offices’ push against President-elect Donald Trump’s policies, but they know it could be a tougher fight in his second term in office.

Trump’s campaign promises included mass deportations of people in the country illegally, and his history includes rolling back environmental regulations and setting the stage for state abortion bans by appointing three new Supreme Court justices who helped overturn of Roe v. Wade.

All of this puts liberals on edge – and I think an organized resistance is needed.

Democratic state officials are positioning themselves to make it happen.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom called for a special legislative session last week to get a jump on the work of crafting “Trump-proof” laws in the nation’s most populous state.

The Democratic governors of Colorado and Illinois announced Wednesday a statewide effort they’re calling Governors Protecting Democracy.

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Here’s a look at how states worked against Trump’s policies last time and how they might fare in his second term.

Democrats were shut down or some policies changed last time

Over the past two decades, challenging the policies of the president of the opposing party has become a major part of the job of state attorneys general.

It peaked the first time Trump was in office, with 160 multi-state lawsuits against the administration in four years, according to a count kept by Marquette University political scientist Paul Nolette.

There were twice as many files as President Barack Obama’s administration twice as many, almost all from the general prosecutors of the Republic of Moldova. Republicans have filed 142 cases against President Joe Biden’s administration.

Legal actions in multiple states against Trump’s policies have been successful 94 times.

Some of the victories were fleeting. For example, Democrats initially convinced the courts to block the president’s ban on travelers from several majority-Muslim countries, but the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately upheld it.

Other victories were on relatively trivial subjects. In one case, a filing to push regulators to stop delaying ceiling fan efficiency rules prompted the U.S. Department of Energy to do so.

There are also roles for governors and legislators. During Trump’s first presidency, for example, California and other states passed laws limiting how much local authorities could help federal immigration officials.

On the other hand, Trump may need the help of GOP officials to carry out his policies. For example, he could ask governors to activate the National Guard to carry out deportations that he said would begin the day he is sworn in.

There are key differences in the legal landscape now

Bob Ferguson, Washington’s Democratic governor-elect and current attorney general, said at a press conference last week that Democratic attorneys general’s offices had been in contact for months to discuss how to push back against Trump’s policies.

He said it was relatively easy to defeat the Trump administration in court early in the Republican’s first term.

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“They were often careless in the way they carried out their executive actions. And that gave us openings for us to prevail in court,” Ferguson said. “This time around, I anticipate we’ll see less of that.”

James Tierney, a former Maine attorney general who teaches a Harvard Law School course at the office, said: “What’s different is a much higher level of sophistication on all sides.”

Ferguson will be one of the few people who served as attorney general at the start of Trump’s first term to serve as governor in his second. None of the 2017 Democratic attorneys general or governors will be in the same job until Trump takes office on January 20.

Courts have also become more conservative since Trump took office — largely due to his efforts. Trump has appointed 245 federal court judges, including three to the US Supreme Court.

The battles won’t just be in the courts

Marquette’s Nolette said Democratic attorneys general will be involved in the “entire life cycle” of the policies.

They will ask employees to submit comments against proposed regulations that government agencies develop to enforce and interpret the laws — and then sue if and when those regulations go into effect.

The bureaus are likely to be aggressive in challenging the new federal laws as unconstitutional. Nolette said the most fruitful action might be when they go to court for executive actions — something he said could come into play particularly with immigration actions.

“By their very nature, they tend to be legally vulnerable,” he said.

Nolette said there are other ways attorneys general can exercise power over federal policy besides challenging federal actions.

One of these is by suing and settling with companies. States have used this approach to force the drug industry to change practices related to opioids, for example, without any federal law or executive action.

And while states can’t make treaties, they can do things like sign international climate agreements.

If the federal government rolls back enforcement in areas such as environmental laws, states could also step up enforcement of their similar laws.

Political ambitions are at play here as well

Democratic officials leading the charge against Trump could get time in the spotlight that could help them land future political jobs.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta will likely be at the center of the action this time.

Several other Democratic officials, including Attorneys General Letitia James of New York and Josh Kaul of Wisconsin — whose voters favored Trump in 2016 and 2024 — held press conferences or issued press releases regarding their commitment to fight Trump’s policies.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday announced a new donation-funded effort called Governors Safeguarding Democracy to help states protect the rule of law — something some Democrats said would be at risk with Trump as president. .

“We founded the GSD because we know that mere hope will not save our democracy,” Polis said in a conference call with reporters.