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While he was Pennsylvania’s attorney general, Josh Shapiro sued President Donald Trump’s first administration two dozen times: on family separations at the U.S. border, access to birth control, and environmental regulations.
And there he was earlier this month, suing the Trump administration again — this time as governor — over a freeze on more than $2 billion in federal funds promised under former President Joe Biden. And he was doing it in place of his successor as attorney general, Republican Dave Sunday.
Sunday had balked at filing such a case, even as 22 other state attorneys general — all Democrats — joined a federal lawsuit in late January challenging the funding freezes. But Sunday didn’t try to stop Shapiro: Both his office and Shapiro’s confirm that he delegated responsibility for filing the suit to the governor’s office.
And the absence of the state’s top law-enforcement officer arguably gave Shapiro the chance to play good cop and bad cop with the White House.
Shortly after Shapiro filed his suit, Trump appointed him to the bipartisan Council of Governors, which days later held a Washington, D.C. gathering attended by the likes of Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer. And after he came home, Shapiro announced that although the suit was still pending, the state could once again access money slated for initiatives in green energy and environmental remediation.
“When I was at the White House on Friday… I urged [the Trump administration] to follow the law and honor their agreements,” Shapiro told reporters.
During his victory lap, Shapiro didn’t linger on the fact that other states who filed lawsuits had won at least a partial victory before the Pennsylvania suit was even filed. On Feb. 7, a federal judge ordered a temporary restraining order, requiring the Trump administration to unfreeze money earmarked for those states, although the lawsuits remain active.
The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment. And Shapiro wouldn’t comment about who he spoke with on Trump’s team or what was said — only that his “pressure” returned results.
But former Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican who also once served as attorney general, told WESA it’s “not surprising” Shapiro was successful.
“I think Josh made some kind of impression in some way or another with the president [or his administration] in order to get that money unfrozen,” Corbett said.
One factor, he added, could have been the administration’s expectation that Pennsylvania’s lawsuit would shake out much like those of the other states who had joined together.
“Maybe [Trump] was counseled by his lawyers that ‘There's no reason fighting this,’” Corbett added. “Or maybe he was impressed by the governor.”
Corbett said invitations to D.C. are meant to establish connections, and while the events offer lots of “grip-and-grins” for photo opportunities, they also provide chances to speak with White House staff. During his own White House meeting with the National Governors Association during Barack Obama’s administration, Corbett said he spent time in a “big dining room” in the White House. “You may put two governors at a table. Their spouses may be with them, but there's always going to be a [White House] staffer with them.”
As for Sunday, while he took a back seat in the litigation, there is no sign of rancor between him and Shapiro’s office. Corbett’s own dynamic with then-attorney general Kathleen Kane, a Democrat, “was much more of an antagonistic relationship,” Corbett recalled. The two publicly spared over Kane’s refusal to defend the constitutionality of a state same-sex marriage ban, among other disagreements. (Kane later stepped down after being convicted in a case involving leaked grand-jury information about political rivals.)
Still, Shapiro was championed by Democrats in the state legislature, who saw Sunday’s inaction as an affront to taxpayers promised billions of congressionally promised dollars.
At a Wednesday budget hearing before the state House Appropriations committee, Sunday was grilled by state Rep. Emily Kinkead, a Pittsburgh Democrat. She said Western Pennsylvania depends heavily on federal dollars for biomedical research and land remediation.
“Allegheny County stood to lose $350 million as a result of the federal freeze,” Kinkead said. “In neither of those instances did your office take any action to join a lawsuit to stop that, and I'm wondering if you can explain why.”
Sunday responded that he reached out to Pennsylvania’s U.S senators, its congressional delegation and called “UPMC, Carnegie Mellon and stakeholders in the community.”
A former York County District Attorney, Sunday said “a knee-jerk reaction in filing a lawsuit doesn't always provide the best long-term outcome.”
The response didn’t reassure Kinkead. “I believe he filibustered through his explanation as to why his office has failed to get involved in protecting Pennsylvanians from the unconstitutional actions of the White House,” she told WESA.
“As a lawyer, I find his response… ignores the reality of immediate harm posed by Trump's executive orders.”
But politically speaking, there might not be much reason for anger, at least as far as the governor is concerned. Shapiro was able to challenge Trump’s White House in court, and then to tout a positive result after conversations with the administration. Sunday didn’t have to cross his party’s standard-bearer, but he also didn’t face the blowback that might have followed if the funds remained frozen.
Together, the two office holders arguably pulled off a win-win … and there aren’t many of those to be had these days.
