Draft Order Would Create DOJ Task Force to Challenge State AI Laws

A draft executive order proposing an "AI Litigation Task Force" within the Justice Department circulated within the administration and was reported on November 19-21, 2025, before Trump signed a version of it, "Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence," on December 11, 2025. The order directs the attorney general to identify and sue over state AI laws deemed unconstitutional, preempted, or otherwise unlawful.

The order also threatens to withhold certain federal funding from states that continue enforcing AI rules the administration considers "onerous," a category that could sweep in transparency mandates, bias audits and consumer-protection rules passed in states like California, New York and Illinois. It carves out exceptions for child-safety, data-center infrastructure and state procurement rules.

Legal scholars and tech-policy researchers have said the administration likely lacks authority to preempt state law this way without congressional action, and the order is expected to face court challenges. It represents an escalation of federal efforts to override state-level technology regulation through litigation and funding threats.