Raoul suggests funding shortfall could make winning legal battles against Trump harder

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul says his office was underfunded by $10 million in the latest budget, and that could make it more difficult to fight legal battles against the Trump administration while still fulfilling its law enforcement duties in the state.

Raoul spoke this week at the City Club of Chicago about the challenges of working with a federal government that has been hostile at times to Illinois. He also touted some of the state’s legal victories against the Trump administration and his efforts to work with the federal government on other issues.

But despite achievements that many legislative Democrats and the governor often celebrate, state lawmakers did not reward Raoul’s team with increased funding.

“We can't do this type of work without adequate investment, and, you know, unfortunately, at approximately 3 a.m. in the morning a week ago Monday, we were shorted about $10 million from what our overall appropriation was for FY26 and I can't imagine why,” he said.

The attorney general’s office is funded by multiple sources in the budget. This year the total comes out to $184.5 million between all funds. Last year, the total was $194.5 million.

“I've been aggressive about going to the legislature in the seven and a half years that I've been in office to appeal for investment in this office,” he said. “Over the course of my seven and a half years, for every dollar of General Revenue Funds spent on the attorney general's office, we return $21. Anybody who has that in their portfolio is rich.”

In addition to representing Illinois in court, the attorney general’s office enforces state laws dealing with issues like consumer protection, victim assistance, civil rights and more.

Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, Illinois has navigated a more-difficult relationship with the federal government.

Raoul said that hostility sometimes gets in the way of work to pursue drug and gun trafficking, child sexual abuse material, and organized retail crime.

It also has led to more work for Raoul’s office. Since the start of Trump’s term, his office filed 63 lawsuits against the Trump administration. Most dealt with federal funds being withheld.

“Not a single lawsuit have we filed because of a policy difference with the president of the United States or with the federal government,” Raoul said. “Every lawsuit we filed, we filed because what he (Trump) was trying to do, he was doing illegally and unconstitutionally.”

He said Illinois also won the U.S. Supreme Court case to block Trump from deploying the National Guard to Chicago.

“Its reach was far beyond just a question of immigration enforcement or crime,” Raoul said. “It’s whether we're going to embrace a sort of an authoritarian approach of giving one man the ability to turn the country's military against whoever he wishes based on whatever he perceives.”

Lawsuits against the federal government have protected $8.6 billion in federal funding for Illinois, Raoul said. That includes money for childcare, disaster recovery and preparation, public health, scientific and medical research, and more.

Despite the difficult relationship, Raoul said Illinois has been able to work with federal law enforcement in some cases to successfully combat retail theft and online crimes against children.

“We have continued through all of this sort of conflict to collaborate on fighting crime, and it's something that should be applauded for these respective leaders,” he said.