Congress should be putting some checks on Donald Trump's out-of-control executive actions. But since they won't, Kris Mayes and other attorneys general will.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is playing David, again, to Donald Trump’s Goliath, this time hurling a legal stone at the president’s tariffs, hoping to slay, or at least stun, what she calls the president’s “ reckless and unlawful tariff scheme before it does even more damage.”

This time, Mayes, along with Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and 10 other attorneys general, is seeking a temporary injunction from the U.S. Court of International Trade.

(Yeah, I didn’t know such a thing existed, either.)

The court and its nine judges have “nationwide jurisdiction over civil actions arising out of the customs and international trade laws of the United States.”

Trump's tariffs are, indeed, 'economically disastrous'

Mayes said in a news release, “These tariffs weren’t approved by Congress, violate the Constitution, and are already driving up costs for Arizona families, small businesses, and local governments. The law is clear — only Congress can impose taxes like these, and the president’s attempt to sidestep that authority is both unconstitutional and economically disastrous.”

That last part has widespread agreement.

For example, experts at the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania — from which Trump graduated — say the tariffs will be a disaster in which “ all future households are worse off .”

The nonpartisan Center for American Progress said the tariffs not only will “ increase costs for average Americans ” but that the “impact on U.S. manufacturers and their workers would be staggering.”

Mayes is doing what GOP members of Congress won't

Mayes has been unloading what seems to be a full sack of rocks at some of the executive actions that Trump has tried to implement.

She’s part of more than 15 lawsuits , ranging from Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship to the mass layoffs of federal employees to gutting the Department of Education.

Essentially, what she and like-minded officials from other states are doing is to provide some checks on the powers of the executive branch, which is what Congress is supposed to be doing, but what the Republicans who control the House and Senate are afraid to do .

This would include the mousy GOP members of Arizona’s congressional delegation, Reps. Andy Biggs, Eli Crane, David Schweikert, Juan Ciscomani, Abe Hamadeh, David Schweikert and Paul Gosar.

Let's hope Mayes has a good sling and many rocks

If they actually believed in doing their jobs and honoring their oaths of office, it would be them, not Mayes questioning the tariffs.

Or, as Mayes put it in a release about her latest legal action, “Economic analysis submitted to the court shows that state and local governments in the 12 states joining the motion stand to pay at least $3.4 billion per year in additional costs due to the tariffs.

“The states also submitted a Federal Reserve report noting that businesses ‘expected elevated input cost growth resulting from tariffs’ and that ‘Most businesses expected to pass through additional costs to customers.’”

That’s us.

And as long our Republican representatives choose to ignore the harm done to their constituents and stand with Trump and the Philistines in D.C., we can only hope that Mayes has a sturdy legal sling and a large enough stash of rocks.

Reach Montini at .

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