The role of the Attorney General has changed in recent years. According to Chuck Hatfield, an attorney and former staffer for the attorney general's office during Jay Nixon's administration, a big shift happened with Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt's lawsuit against the Chinese government.
Schmitt, a Republican, had filed a lawsuitin April 2020 blaming China for the COVID pandemic. A federal judge threw out the lawsuit two years later for "lack of subject matter jurisdiction."
Schmitt's successor, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, has continued to take on an aggressive role as the state's top legal officer, challenging positions laid out by the federal government that don't directly affect the state — like the southern U.S. border.
That's part of a larger nationwide trend, Hatfield says.
"In the last, I don't know, eight years or so, attorneys general have taken the position that there's really no matter that may concern the state or the nation on which the attorney general lacks authority," Hatfield said.
Hatfield joined KCUR's Brian Ellison for a condensed conversation on the KCUR daily news podcast Kansas City Today. Up To Date aired the conversation in its entirety.
- Brian Ellison, host, Kanas City Today
- Chuck Hatfield, attorney and partner, Stinson
