CNN found extensive overlap between America First Legal (AFL), founded by Stephen Miller, and the Trump administration: officials supported, settled or acted on requests connected to more than a dozen AFL lawsuits, about 40% of the group’s second-term caseload.

The overlap was reinforced by personnel moves: Miller, Gene Hamilton and Reed Rubinstein left AFL for senior administration roles, while AFL vice president Daniel Epstein became Trump’s personal attorney; Hamilton and Rubinstein later returned to AFL, and Miller left the group to join the White House.

While Hamilton served as deputy White House counsel, the administration opened investigations into school districts AFL had complained about, supported sheriffs represented by AFL and investigated a California school-policy law the group was challenging; after AFL sued IBM twice over its diversity, equity and inclusion practices, the DOJ targeted the company and later announced a $17 million penalty.

In another example, the State Department dropped its defense of an AFL lawsuit concerning aid that could benefit the Palestinian Authority after Rubinstein, who had filed the case, became the department’s top lawyer; the department said he recused himself.

In June 2025, the DOJ agreed to a consent judgment with Texas and AFL on the same day they sued over an immigration rule, following an internal memo indicating the department would not defend it; legal observers called the swift resolution unusual and questioned whether the dispute was genuine.

The alignment helped advance major policy outcomes, including ending aid to the Palestinian Authority, reversing school policies related to gender identity, pressuring organizations to drop diversity, equity and inclusion rules, and defending sheriffs who cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

AFL also won in court: after the Supreme Court revived challenges to school policies requiring disclosure of students’ gender identity to parents, AFL prevailed in appeals in two cases, and the court agreed to hear another of its challenges involving minors’ access to gender-identity care.

Legal and ethics experts described the coordination as unusually extensive and warned that government working in lockstep with favored outside groups could undermine fair treatment and public confidence in the justice system.

CNN found no evidence that official recusal or lobbying rules were violated, but Trump abandoned a longstanding ethics pledge and rescinded a Biden executive order that could have imposed tighter restrictions; records continued to list Hamilton in AFL roles during his government service, which AFL attributed to filing requirements rather than his actual position.

AFL said its lawsuits aligned with the administration’s shared political priorities and that its staff followed applicable ethics rules; the White House said Miller was no longer affiliated with AFL, and Miller did not comment.

AFL has grown from a small group that raised $6.3 million in its first year to an organization reporting $32 million in revenue in 2024, with about 10 staff attorneys compared with roughly 500 at the ACLU.