Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) wants you to believe he’s a fair referee in the political ring. In a recent post on X, Ford wrote:
“I’ve sued both the Trump and Biden administrations because I don’t care if the White House is occupied by a Democrat or Republican — if you’re hurting Nevadans, I’m not backing down.”
I’ve sued both the Trump and Biden administrations because I don’t care if the White House is occupied by a Democrat or Republican — if you’re hurting Nevadans, I’m not backing down.
— Aaron D. Ford (@AaronDFordNV) August 14, 2025
Sounds even-handed, right?
But when you look at the record, the numbers tell a very different story.
The Record Against Trump vs. Biden
During Donald Trump’s first term, Ford went after the administration hard.
In just his first two years as AG, Ford joined or led 33 lawsuits against Trump policies — and by the time Trump left office in January 2021, that number had climbed past 44 cases.
Those lawsuits covered everything from stopping the border wall, to challenging religious liberty protections in health care, to blocking citizenship questions on the census.
And since Trump returned to the White House in 2025, Ford has jumped in on at least 11 more lawsuits, including fights over election rules, Planned Parenthood funding, and health insurance regulations.
Now compare that to Biden’s time in office.
From 2021 to early 2025, Ford’s lawsuits against the Biden administration appear to be fewer than five — and even those were small-bore cases, not the headline-grabbing, high-stakes fights we saw against Trump.
Ford says he doesn’t care who’s in the White House, but Nevadans see a clear pattern:
- Frequent, high-profile lawsuits against Republicans.
- Rare, low-profile (or no) lawsuits against Democrats.
That doesn’t scream “equal treatment.”
In fact, it lines up with what we’ve seen from Democratic attorneys general across the country — joining multistate coalitions led by California and New York to block GOP policies, but giving Democratic presidents a pass.
If Ford really wanted to show neutrality, we’d expect to see him push back just as hard on Biden-era mandates and regulations that impact Nevada — things like energy rules that drive up utility bills, or COVID-era federal overreach.
But those challenges never came.
Is It Really About ‘Harming Nevadans’?
Ford claims his lawsuits are about stopping policies that hurt Nevadans. But look closely at the issues he’s picked fights over.
Many of his Trump-era cases were about national Democratic priorities, not Nevada-specific concerns — like defending DACA, keeping Planned Parenthood funding, or fighting voter ID laws.
Sure, these are big talking points for progressives, but they don’t address core Nevada challenges like water scarcity, mining regulations, or economic diversification.
And when Biden’s policies touched on Nevada’s interests — for example, federal energy rules that could raise costs in a state with some of the nation’s highest electricity rates — Ford was silent.
One reason Nevadans won’t buy Ford’s claim of neutrality is that most of his legal fights are part of blue-state coalition lawsuits.
These are cases where a group of Democratic AGs file the same suit together, usually led by California’s AG.
That’s politics, not independent legal judgment.
When you’re part of the same coordinated legal strike over and over, it’s hard to claim you’re calling balls and strikes without party loyalty.
What Critics Are Saying
Former Colorado DA George Brauchler, a frequent critic of partisan AGs, summed it up in a recent post: Ford and other Democratic AGs “never” sued Biden, while going after Trump at every turn.
That “never” might be an exaggeration — there may have been a couple of technical challenges here and there — but the core point is still valid: Ford’s record is horribly lopsided.
With Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo in Carson City, Ford’s partisan approach can create tension in how Nevada deals with the federal government.
For example, on border security — an issue Lombardo has prioritized — Ford’s lawsuits have often targeted Trump policies designed to tighten enforcement, while having shown little appetite to challenge Biden’s more open-border approach.
Ford’s X post makes him sound like a fearless, nonpartisan defender of Nevada. But the record shows otherwise:
- 44+ lawsuits against Trump versus fewer than five against Biden.
- Most Biden-era challenges were minor and low-profile.
- Many Trump-era cases lined up with national Democratic causes, not Nevada-specific harms.
If Ford wants Nevadans to believe he’s truly impartial, he should name the Biden cases he’s talking about — with dates, case numbers, and what they were about.
Until then, Nevadans see his claim as political spin designed to cover up a very one-sided record.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. This article was written with the assistance of AI. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
