By Lawrence Smith
Kentucky Today
When Attorney General Russell Coleman took office nearly one year ago, the former U.S. Attorney thought his agenda would focus primarily on law enforcement. And while he says reducing violent crime, going after child predators and prosecuting drug dealers continues to be a top priority, Coleman has also devoted a lot of attention to suing the administration of President Joe Biden.
Coleman has taken the administration to court more than a dozen times to block what he calls “unconstitutional federal overreach.”
“Admittedly, it’s an aspect of being Attorney General that I didn’t fully appreciate until I was sitting in the chair,” said Coleman. “I came to this job as a law man. I came into this job as a former federal prosecutor. I had planned on tackling violence in Louisville and overdose deaths across the commonwealth. That’s my background.
“But Attorneys General are unique, and they are the lawyer on behalf of the sovereign entity that is their state,” he said. “AG’s have the ability to advocate and push back under our constitutional order.”
Coleman has blocked what he calls the Biden administration’s “job-killing attacks” on Kentucky’s energy industry and joined with other states in successfully challenging the federal Dept. of Education’s efforts to advance the LGBTQ+ agenda by re-writing Title IX protections for women to include those who identify as transgender.
“It was complete constitutional overreach for the Biden administration to seek that change. We won. It will not be implemented going forward,” Coleman said.
“When there’s encroachment on that sovereign entity, in this case, time and time and time again by the Biden Administration, with the practical impact of eliminating coal fired power plants; with the practical impact of mandating that electric vehicles have a favored place in the market; with the practical impact of men playing in girls’ sports, not only playing but with schools being sanctioned and are open to sanction if they don’t promote that, the impact would be devastating to our way of life.
Coleman believes the incoming Trump administration should mean fewer trips to the courthouse to fight proposed government regulations.
“So many of the resources that we have had to deploy to fight overreach by the Biden Administration in the environmental space, in the religious liberty space, in the energy space … to take those resources and be able to redeploy them.”
Coleman promises to “aggressively defend” Kentucky’s pro-life laws
During a wide-ranging interview with Kentucky Today at the State Capitol, the Republican Attorney General also said he is committed to defending Kentucky’s pro-life laws. A hearing on a new challenge by the ACLU is scheduled for early January.
“We will defend the Trigger Law. We will defend life … all the way up to the Supreme Court of this commonwealth if need be.”
While Coleman did not want to go into detail about the legal strategy, he said the fact that the plaintiff in the case, identified only as “Mary Poe,” did obtain an abortion out of state raises questions about whether she still has legal standing to file the lawsuit.
“It remains to be seen, and you raise a very good question. We’re exploring that with the courts,” Coleman said. “That’s what occurred the last challenge we had, so this will play out. I don’t want to get ahead of myself in making legal arguments here with you. What I can commit to, and we have done so at every stage … is to defend aggressively the law as passed by the General Assembly.”
AG’s office is taking on social media giant TikTok
Coleman said he is committed to protecting the lives of Kentucky’s children both inside and outside the womb—and that is why he has filed suit against the social media giant TikTok.
“TikTok is—full stop—an addiction machine,” he said. Coleman accuses the Chinese owners of TikTok of harming Kentucky’s young people as they profit from them. He said Kentuckians have spent $240 million on purchases through the TikTok app.
“They are printing money. They are printing money by using an algorithm that is harming our kids— that is promoting self-harm, suicidal ideation, a view of self that is anything other than positive, having a dramatic impact on anxiety and depression—and they know that. The owners of TikTok know that and they are monetizing that.
“We also know that predators, those that are seeking access to our kids, to exploit them, to do some of that horrendous conduct, that their platform of preference is TikTok.”
Reducing violent crime remains a priority
While Coleman’s office has devoted much attention to hot-button social and economic issues, Coleman said he has not lost sight of the law enforcement side of his job.
He has established a new office in Louisville to combat violent crime, staffed by two prosecutors and a detective. So far, the team has indicted 20 individuals.
“This is true bi-partisan collaboration, with Commonwealth’s Attorney Gerina Whethers, appointed by the governor, with Mayor (Craig) Greenberg, we are working together to tackle gang violence.”
Drug addiction prevention a goal for 2025
Coleman is also launching a new drug addiction prevention program called “Better Without it.” The two-year, $3.6 million statewide campaign is being paid for by the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Commission with dollars from settlements with pharmaceutical companies. It will use social media influencers and popular athletes to deliver positive messages to young people about avoiding illicit drugs.
“We have to get ahead of the threat in terms of prevention,” said Coleman. “We’re locking up bad guys—enforcement. We’re doing a better job on treatment. But where we have failed as a commonwealth is prevention; and you’re hearing this from a prosecutor. That is where we’re failing. That’s where we’re investing opioid abatement dollars.”
Coleman said prevention is especially important in an environment where one pill can kill because of the prevalence of fentanyl.
“We want to prevent harm to families and people,” he said. “We want to prevent and show that there’s another offramp for these kids.”
Coleman said the issues of drug addiction prevention, curbing the toxic impact of social media and arresting internet predators are personal—because he is a “girl dad.”
“Those are the things that keep me up at night.”