Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark recently filed her fourth lawsuit in two weeks against the Trump administration, this one to stop Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., from dismantling the health agency. 

It is the 13th lawsuit that Clark has filed against the Trump administration in its first 100 days (see VTDigger’s online tracker of Clark’s actions). These are multistate lawsuits brought in conjunction with other Democratic attorneys general.

Clark's lawsuits include challenging the gutting of the departments of Education and Health and Human Services, dismantling AmeriCorps, anti-DEI rules, tariffs, Elon Musk’s unchecked power, and anti-LGBTQ+ rules in the military, to name a few.

Clark, who was reelected in November to her second term as attorney general, accuses President Donald Trump of violating the U.S. Constitution that he was sworn to defend.

“Every single time Donald Trump violates the constitution or federal law and Vermont has standing, we are suing,” she said.

Trump has been on a remarkable losing streak. Nationally, more than 200 lawsuits have been filed against the administration so far, and judges have fully or partially blocked implementation of most of Trump’s actions. During Trump's first term, Vermont participated in 62 lawsuits and won a favorable outcome in 60 of those cases. 

What is the point of taking actions that are struck down by courts?

Clark points to Trump’s record as a businessman, in which he declared bankruptcy six times. 

“I think some people would feel embarrassed if they had a business model that was going to have a lot of failures,” she said. “And he just doesn't. He's not oriented that way. He doesn't necessarily see a failure as a loss. I think he sees these as tools to understand what his power is and to stretch his power by intimidation.”

“He's using these extreme cases to test the boundaries of his power and also to gain power for himself,” she added.

Clark said she is especially concerned about Trump’s attacks on poor people, such as slashing the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and Head Start, the early education program for low-income people, both of which benefit thousands of Vermonters. 

“It isn't for the administration, the executive branch, to decide how to spend the taxpayers’ money,” Clark said. She insisted that Congress “created these programs, and they have funded these programs, and Donald Trump needs to deliver the money to the programs.”

What if Trump ignores the courts, as he seems to selectively be doing? Clark has a warning for Trump’s lawyers who defy court orders. 

“There are consequences: It's disbarment. It's being in contempt,” she said. “At some point, lawyers who disobey will be punished.” 

Numerous Trump attorneys have been disbarred in recent years. 

The attorney general said her biggest concerns are apathy and the erosion of the media, which are interconnected problems. “There's apathy because people actually don't understand what's going on from a non-biased source.”

Many people “are getting their news not from journalists, but from entertainers,” she said.

Clark advises Vermonters to "hang in there.” 

“Our country is strong (and) was literally designed to protect itself from someone who wanted to be king,” she said.

The attorney general said people must "do our part as citizens: voting, participating in democracy, protesting, speaking up. That's my message to Vermonters.”