To Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, the legal war against President Donald Trump is personal.
Raoul is a Chicago native, born to Haitian immigrants, making him a self-described “birthright baby.” He’s also a prostate cancer survivor, and lost his father to the disease. And he’s watching Trump slash the budget and lay off staffers at the National Institutes of Health, one of the largest funders of cancer research.
“I’d be lying to you if I told you this is not scary to me. That this does not hit me emotionally. That it’s not personal to me. Our very first lawsuit, birthright citizenship. I’m a birthright baby, right? My mom was not yet naturalized when I was born,” Raoul said in an interview with the Sun-Times. “I’m a cancer survivor. I’m a prostate cancer survivor. I was very public when I was diagnosed, partially because it was therapeutic to me while I was going through it.”
Raoul recently lost a close friend, Matt Jones, to glioblastoma, a highly aggressive brain tumor. Jones worked for the Office of the Illinois Appellate Prosecutor and had been undergoing an experimental treatment at Northwestern.
“This lawsuit with regards to NIH, they’re trying to cap the indirect costs for NIH’s funding of cancer research. It’s not just another lawsuit just to fight the Trump administration. It’s really personal,” Raoul said. “So it does hit me. Some more than others, emotionally. I’ve been one to just wear my emotions publicly and just suffer whatever the consequence that is. But we’re all human beings, right?”
Raoul, 60, started his career as a senior staff attorney for the City Colleges of Chicago, then as a prosecutor with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office. He served as a state senator for 14 years, initially appointed to fill the seat held when Barack Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate, before being elected attorney general in 2018.
Now, he’s a key figure in Democrats’ legal battle against Trump’s executive orders and policies. The Democratic Attorney Generals Association in November 2024 elected Raoul a co-chair of their coalition, aimed at leading the coordinated efforts against Trump’s unconstitutional actions.
Raoul and 22 other Democratic attorneys general are acting as a firewall. This month alone, he led a coalition of 18 AGs in filing an amicus brief supporting a legal challenge to two of Trump’s executive orders targeting diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility initiatives, and another suit accusing the Trump administration of attempting to “illegally” coerce states into sweeping immigration enforcement by threatening to withhold billions in federal funding for emergency services and infrastructure.
He has been part of more than 20 suits and filings aimed at halting executive orders and policies since Trump took office in January. Raoul was among four attorneys general who filed a suit challenging Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order.
And he believes the legal fights are going in Democrats’ favor.
“We are winning. Not every aspect and not every lawsuit, but overwhelmingly we are successful,” Raoul said. “And what winning looks like is having the spigot of funding reopened where there have been efforts to freeze funding or condition funding.”
Raoul sees another version of “winning” in Republican-appointed federal judges blasting Trump’s actions as blatantly unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge John Bates, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush in February, ordered the administration to restore public health websites that were taken down after Trump ordered the federal government would only recognize "two sexes, male and female."
U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, in February became the second federal judge to issue a nationwide injunction to block the administration from moving forward on Trump’s executive order targeting birthright citizenship. Coughenour called the executive order “blatantly unconstitutional.”
“These are judges that apparently did take civics, did watch ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ when they were younger and understand that there’s an obligation to follow the Constitution,” Raoul said.
‘The lawsuit are filed because they are unlawful actions’
During a recent interview in Springfield, the attorney general brought a stapled list of all his Trump-related cases.
“It’s more like a teddy bear, making me feel more confident,” Raoul said with a laugh.
But the journey has been far from light. Raoul said he’s receiving thank you notes and cards every week. But there’s also hate mail. They’re coming from “people not understanding the why,” he says.
“The lawsuits are filed because they are unlawful actions, because the way he tries to pursue these things are either unconstitutional or violative of a law in some other way, not filed because I disagree with the policy,” Raoul said.
The frequent filings coming from Democratic attorneys general have created a deep bond among the group. In frequent Zooms and phone calls, they debate key issues, which Raoul, who co-chairs a working group on DEI matters, described as sometimes “tense.”
“It’s hefty matters that we’re discussing, and so there’s disagreement sometimes as to how and when or if to proceed with something,” Raoul said. “We try to keep it together as much as possible.”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison called Raoul “innovative, creative and a leader among Attorneys General.” He also lauded him for “his reserved calm in difficult moments.”
And Sean Rankin, president of the Democratic Attorneys General Association, called Raoul a “forceful, strategic and impressive leader.” He also credited him for stepping up to lead Black men in a rally last year to support Vice President Kamala Harris.
“He grew into a national voice in that moment,” Rankin said in a statement. “And as he became a DAGA Co-Chair this year and when Trump took office, I’ve seen his leadership and voice grow deeper as he works tirelessly to defend the rule of law, protecting the rights of Illinoisans directly and all Americans.”
Raoul seeking more funds
Raoul’s spotlight on the Trump administration lawsuits has unleashed some critics. Some Republicans like State Rep. Amy Elik, R-Alton, see Raoul’s leading role as “doing Governor [JB] Pritzker’s political bidding,” which Raoul has refuted.
Pritzker’s office sought to squash that characterization, calling him “an incredibly accomplished public official in his own right.” Spokesman Alex Gough said Raoul “has demonstrated strong leadership of a completely independent office.”
Elik, who serves as an Assistant House Republican Leader, has filed legislation that would require transparency about the cost of lawsuits coming out of the attorney general’s office.
“I’d be eager to see exactly how many millions of dollars are being wasted on these political lawsuits,” Elik said in an email. “We’re looking for places to cut after all, and that seems like a great start.”
The opposite of Elik’s request is likely to occur, with Raoul this year asking for more funding in this year’s state budget. He says more is needed as federal agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, Department of Education and Department of Justice, retreat under the Trump administration.
“Ideologically there’s going to be a departure from a feeling that consumers ought to be protected at a federal level. What that means is there’s going to be increased burden on the state agency level. And one of the critical state agencies in that fight to protect consumers are offices of attorneys general,” Raoul said. “And so the burden is going to be bigger on our consumer protection teams, our public interest teams, our civil rights teams and we’re going to need more lawyers, not just for short term federal economy litigation.”
‘If we all stand solid, he will be beaten back’
“I want to talk about the law firms,” Raoul volunteered during an hourlong interview.
Naturally, as a lawyer, Raoul is fuming about Trump’s targeting of law firms — and he’s even more upset about the firms “capitulating.”
Nine prominent law firms have made deals with Trump amid executive orders that targeted his political and legal adversaries. By agreeing to millions of dollars in pro bono work benefiting the administration, those nine firms have so far avoided retribution.
“These threats to these law firms are something that I think all Americans should be concerned about in a very, very serious way, because it undermines advocacy. The same way that we as attorneys general are able to bring these lawsuits and effectively bring them, there are private actors, sometimes represented by law firms, that are doing these in cases where we don’t have standing,” Raoul said. “…I think it’s better if we could all stand solid as a legal community knowing that that is absolutely wrong, and if we all stand solid, he will be beaten back.”
Raoul said he poached a law student from Kirkland & Ellis, whom he said “demonstrated courage,” in telling the firm he wouldn’t work for them after they made a deal with Trump.
“I think people like that should be lifted up for demonstrating their courage and demonstrating a willingness to fight for the profession,” Raoul said. “…If that all is compromised by this revenge, this retribution that’s coming from the president of the United States, that is very, very dangerous.”
Raoul plans to run for reelection
Although Raoul said he had given thought to running for Sen. Dick Durbin’s seat, the incumbent attorney general said he plans to run for reelection in 2026.
“The notion of me going back and forth to Washington D.C. and living in a some dorm room or small apartment somewhere and being only able to just give a speech instead of filing a lawsuit. Why would I leave this at this time to go do that?” Raoul said. “… I’m blessed to be in this. There’s a reason why Lisa [Madigan], my predecessor, served four terms. This is a hell of a job to have.”
