BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell has filed a major new lawsuit against President Donald Trump, dragging Massachusetts — and its taxpayers — into another national culture-war court battle, this time to block federal actions that would restrict children’s access to trans procedures.

The lawsuit is part of a coalition of 19 states and the District of Columbia challenging the federal government’s latest moves to impose wide-ranging limits on gender-related procedures for minors. The Trump administration’s health agencies, led by the Department of Health and Human Services, have proposed policies and declarations that federal officials say could discourage hospitals and insurers from offering such procedures by threatening exclusion from Medicare, Medicaid and other federal programs — even though Congress never passed a formal ban. Campbell’s suit claims these federal actions exceed legal authority, bypass normal rule-making, and interfere with decisions states are entitled to make.

The complaint argues the federal government is using warnings and regulatory pressure to force a practical curtailment of access for children, a strategy Campbell says amounts to rewriting national policy without legislative approval — a move she says harms families and state rights.

But while Campbell has rushed into a high-profile face-off with Trump in federal court, her record on another prominent issue back home continues to draw fire.

In 2024, Massachusetts voters delivered a landslide mandate on transparency, with roughly 72 percent voting to allow the state auditor to audit the Legislature. That overwhelming result was meant to open Beacon Hill’s books and give residents more accountability from their own government. Yet the audit remains stalled, blocked by Democratic leadership on Beacon Hill, and Campbell’s office has repeatedly stopped short of forcing the issue into court — even as supporters of the audit have pressed her to act.

Critics see a glaring contrast: the attorney general is quick to commit Massachusetts resources to national culture-war litigation against Trump over trans procedures, while appearing hesitant to enforce a voter-approved audit law that three out of four Bay Staters backed.

For Massachusetts taxpayers, the split screen is unmistakable. Campbell’s latest lawsuit puts the state in the center of a divisive national fight, even as a clear expression of voters’ will on government oversight sits unresolved.

As this new lawsuit heads forward, the question for many in Massachusetts remains the same: why is the attorney general eager to pick fights in federal court over trans children — but slow to act when it comes to enforcing laws voters overwhelmingly passed at home?