{"id":1788,"date":"2026-04-14T07:43:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T11:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/legal-ethics-journal\/?page_id=1788"},"modified":"2026-04-14T07:43:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T11:43:11","slug":"the-use-and-misuse-of-consumer-protection-enforcement-authority-by-state-attorneys-general","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/legal-ethics-journal\/in-print\/volume-38-issue-4-fall-2025\/the-use-and-misuse-of-consumer-protection-enforcement-authority-by-state-attorneys-general\/","title":{"rendered":"The Use and Misuse of Consumer Protection Enforcement Authority by State Attorneys General"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the last four decades, state attorneys general (hereinafter state AGs) have utilized innovative approaches to consumer protection litigation to expand the power and political reach of their office. In the 1990s, once little-known state AGs rose to prominence in national politics after engaging in the first round of nationwide multistate consumer protection litigation against the tobacco industry.<\/span> In the 2000s, another large multistate consumer protection lawsuit was settled against pharmaceutical industry giant Purdue Pharma in response to the opioid epidemic.<\/span> By the 2010s, state AGs were fully recognized as powerful, integral actors in consumer protection on the national stage and began to collaborate with the federal government to earn larger settlements and broader consumer relief than ever before.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Through the late 2010s and early 2020s there has been a marked increase in the amount of political and policy activism emerging from the offices of state AGs.<\/span> State AGs over the past two decades have more willingly, more frequently, and more boldly harnessed the power of their popular mandate as elected officials to engage in adversative litigation on value-centric issues which further their own political interests.<\/span> This increased political activism has arisen in lockstep with increased portrayal of the attorney general office as a political stepping-stone to higher public office, like governorships or seats in the state or federal legislature. Some of today\u2019s most activist attorneys general, like Ken Paxton of Texas and Rob Bonta of California, have adopted innovative consumer protection enforcement tactics in recent high-profile litigation.<\/span> These strategies are poised to shape national policy and further elevate their own political influence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This apparent new phase of innovation in consumer protection litigation by activist state AGs prompts new questions about the proper role of state AGs in shaping national politics and the appropriate scope of their power. Should state AGs be allowed to use the powerful tools afforded by their office for the pursuit of consumer protection to target their political opponents and further their own personal and professional goals? If not, how can overreach and misuse of the tools of their office be constrained?<\/span><\/p>\n

In Section II, this Note will provide an overview of the office of the state AG. In Section III, this Note will expand on the powers afforded state AGs in the realm of consumer protection. In Section IV, this Note will articulate the characteristics of the new era of politically-motivated state AG consumer protection litigation emerging today. It will examine whether today\u2019s state AGs are misusing the powers afforded their office in pursuing consumer protection litigation not for the benefit of the public interest but rather for personal or partisan political gain. Finally, in Section V, this Note will conclude with a proposal for one solution to rein in overreaching state AGs despite the significant deference granted them in the area of consumer protection: bar association enforcement of codified rules of professional conduct.<\/span><\/p>\n

Keep Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the last four decades, state attorneys general (hereinafter state AGs) have utilized innovative approaches to consumer protection litigation to expand the power and political reach of their office. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14207,"featured_media":0,"parent":1755,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"abstract.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-1788","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/legal-ethics-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/legal-ethics-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/legal-ethics-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/legal-ethics-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/legal-ethics-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1788"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/legal-ethics-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1790,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/legal-ethics-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1788\/revisions\/1790"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/legal-ethics-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/legal-ethics-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}