Read the California DOJ Weekly Newsletter

Protecting the Constitutional Right to Birthright Citizenship

On his first day in office in 2025, President Trump issued an executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to undocumented parents or parents who are here on a legal, temporary basis. We immediately co-led a multistate coalition in a lawsuit challenging the order and repeatedly obtained nationwide preliminary injunctions that blocked this order from ever taking effect.

This week, we celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision affirming this constitutional right and  striking down President Trump's executive order purporting to terminate that right. This decision affirms a foundational tenet of American democracy: that every child born in this country, no matter their background, is equal under the law and can pursue the American Dream. Rest assured, at California DOJ, we will continue to fight to uphold the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution against tyranny in all its forms.

Unveiling Annual Criminal Justice Statistical Reports

This week, we announced the publication of the California Criminal Justice Statistical Reports for 2025, a suite of annual reports that provide vital statewide criminal justice statistics and insights that help protect the safety and well-being of all Californians. Transparent, accurate data helps us understand what is happening in our communities and where more work is needed. And in 2025, the big takeaway is this: California saw large reductions in crime. In fact, all crime rates – from hate crimes to gun violence – decreased last year compared to the previous year. And when it comes to homicide and shootings, 2025 was the safest year on record in California. These numbers prove that the investments in community violence intervention over recent years and the commitment to effective partnerships and collaboration between federal, state, and local governments, law enforcement agencies, and community partners are working. We’ve created successful organized retail theft programs, human trafficking and fentanyl task forces, and programs targeting violent criminals. These partnerships have led to more success, more accountability and more arrests. At the end of the day, these numbers could go up or down any year, but what’s important is: At California DOJ, we will continue to report the facts, and we remain dedicated to making the public safety of our communities our top priority. 

Putting a Stop to the Trump Administration’s Lawlessness

We aren’t looking for a fight, but when the Trump Administration breaks the law, my office will fight to protect California’s communities, rights, and values — and this week we secured several big legal wins. On Tuesday, we won our case challenging the Trump Administration’s illegal conditions on billions of dollars in funding that community organizations rely on to provide housing and services for families experiencing homelessness. These funds support vital resources for those most at risk of homelessness, such as veterans, persons with disabilities, and transgender individuals.

That same day, we prevailed in another lawsuit after a U.S. District Court vacated an illegal Trump Administration rule that would have denied Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) eligibility to employees of organizations doing important work that the President doesn’t like. Had the rule gone into effect, it could have empowered the Administration to strip PSLF eligibility from organizations engaged in important, legal activities, such as providing legal services to immigrants, providing gender-affirming care to minors, participating in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, or engaging in civil protest and the right to assembly. 

Cracking Down on Illegal Conspiracy to Raise Egg Prices

This week, we announced a settlement with egg producers Cal-Maine Foods, Versova, and Hickman’s, resolving allegations that they conspired to raise the cost of eggs nationwide. The settlement, reached in partnership with a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general and the U.S. Department of Justice, requires the egg producers to pay $3.3 million to the states, refrain from all conduct illegally conspiring to raise egg prices, and donate over 53 million eggs to food banks in the coalition states, including 8.9 million eggs — or 741,666 egg cartons — that will go directly to California food banks. Due to the very large quantity of eggs, donations will occur over the coming months and years. I am proud to deliver these results for the people of California and I’m grateful for the critical work our food banks do every day to ensure food gets into the hands of Californians in need. My office is committed to cracking down on companies that run afoul of the law and unlawfully conspire to raise prices for Californians who are already struggling with a crisis of affordability. Let me be clear: In California we have zero tolerance for bad eggs.

What We Did: In June we announced our Affordability Response Team to go after unlawful practices raising the cost of living for Californians! The creation of the Affordability Response Team will amplify our focus on affordability, create a pipeline for continued enforcement, and send the strong message that California has zero tolerance for unlawful policies or behavior that drive up prices for Californians. 

Our team will deploy California DOJ's tools to tackle costs associated with eight issue areas. 

Issue Area #3: A Roof Over Your Head: Housing & Insurance Costs: California is facing a housing crisis of epic proportions. Housing costs have skyrocketed, making it harder for Californians to keep a roof over their heads. California's 17 million tenants spend a significant portion of their paychecks on rent, with an estimated 700,000 Californians at risk of eviction. California DOJ has responded vigorously, tackling the housing crisis on all fronts, including by: cracking down on cities slowing down the building of essential housing, suing landlords who violate tenant protection laws, returning money to homeowners impacted by unlawful foreclosure policies, going after companies using software to unlawfully raise rent prices, sponsoring legislation to accelerate housing construction, and by pushing back against the Trump Administration’s policies expected to worsen homelessness. 

The Affordability Response team will continue to work alongside DOJ's Housing Justice Team to do this important work and will work to ramp up our ongoing focus on the cost-of-living crisis. Check out oag.ca.gov/affordability to learn more about our work in this space.

Tune in next week and we’ll dive into the fourth issue area, Investing in Our Future: Childcare, Education, & Retirement.

This week, we announced a 16-year state prison sentence secured against Rodney Allen Flynt Jr., the ringleader of an organized retail theft ring that targeted high-end jewelry stores across Southern California. From April 2023 to May 2024, Flynt and his accomplices carried out smash-and-grab style thefts, both during the day and after hours, targeting over 21 stores in shopping malls throughout San Diego, Orange, Riverside, and Kern counties. The stores included JCPenney, Zales, Princess Jewelers, and Kay Jewelers and resulted in more than $1.5 million in losses. Flynt pleaded guilty in March 2026 after his preliminary hearing and was ordered to pay $1.2 million in restitution. This represents a major step forward in fighting these illegal operations, which harm both retailers and consumers while raising significant financial and public safety concerns. California DOJ remains committed to bringing proper consequences to lawbreakers and we will continue working in collaboration with our law enforcement departments, retailers, and prosecutors to get results.

In response to growing concerns about the federal government seeking to entangle state and local agencies in immigration enforcement in ways that do not comport with the law, the California Legislature enacted Senate Bill 580 (Durazo, 2025). SB 580 requires the California Attorney General to develop and publish model policies that demonstrate how state and local agencies should interact with immigration enforcement officials in a manner that is lawful and consistent with California values. This virtual briefing will provide an overview of the new guidance and model polices and provide an opportunity for the public to ask questions related to the new publication.

MS Now: CA AG Bonta says SCOTUS birthright decision affirms Trump ‘is not a king’: ‘Humiliating defeat’ 

LA Times: California leaders cheer Supreme Court ballot ruling while eyeing other ways to speed count 

Reuters: Meta loses bid to dismiss US states' claims that Facebook, Instagram addict children

ABC 10: California DOJ reports homicide, violent crime declined in 2025

KCRC: Bonta, Weber press lawsuit challenging Shasta County Measure B in trial court