2019 Press Releases

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• 8/20/2019 AG TONG STATEMENT ON TRUMP PLAN FOR INDEFINITE MASS FAMILY DETENTION

  Attorney General William Tong issued the following statement today denouncing the latest plan by the Trump Administration to ignore the Flores settlement and initiate plans for indefinite mass detention of immigrant families.

• 10/8/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG MOVES TO DEFEND EPA RIGHT TO REGULATE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AGAINST INDUSTRY CHALLENGE

  Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of 30 states and local governments in filing a motion to intervene on behalf of the federal government to defend the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) authority to establish meaningful emission limits on greenhouse gases from power plants and other industrial sources. The intervention pushes back against industry challenges to EPA authority under section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act to limit these missions.

• 6/3/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG: LONG ISLAND SOUND DREDGING CHALLENGE LACKS MERIT

  (Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong has filed a memorandum of law in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York describing the exhaustive administrative record, economic need, and environmental safeguards that clearly support the lawful selection of the Eastern Long Island Sound Disposal Site for dredged materials.

• 5/20/2019 CONNECTICUT JOINS COALITION OF 23 CITIES AND STATES SUING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO STOP RULE ALLOWING DISCRIMINATION IN PROVIDING HEALTH CARE

  HHS Final Rule Seeks to Expand Ability of Businesses and Individuals to Refuse to Provide Necessary Health Care on the Basis of Their “Religious, Moral, Ethical, or Other” Beliefs

• 5/5/2019 UNSEALED OPIOID COMPLAINT-- ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG RELEASES NEW SHOCKING EMAILS FROM PURDUE'S RICHARD SACKLER

  Attorney General William Tong today released Connecticut's unredacted complaint against Purdue Pharma, revealing previously undisclosed shocking and offensive emails from Purdue's former director Richard Sackler.

• 12/23/2019 AG TONG CALLS ON COURT TO UPHOLD CONTRACEPTIVE COVERAGE MANDATE

  Attorney General William Tong joined 22 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief defending the rights of tens of thousands of women across the country to full and equal access to birth control guaranteed by the Affordable Care Act.

• 5/30/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG STATEMENT ON DEFERRED ACTION FOR SUJITNO SAJUTI

  Attorney General William Tong issued the following statement regarding Sujitno Sajuti, who will leave sanctuary today after being granted deferred action and relief from deportation.

• 6/13/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG SHOWS POTENTIAL FOR GRAVE HARM TO CONNECTICUT, JOINS STATES IN SEEKING PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION AGAINST THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO STOP HEALTH CARE DISCRIMINATION

  Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of 23 cities, states, and municipalities, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, in a motion filed today to seek a preliminary injunction to stop the Trump Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from adopting a Final Rule that would expand the ability of businesses and individuals to refuse to provide necessary health care on the basis of businesses' or employees’ “religious beliefs or moral convictions.” The motion is supported by declarations from 48 leading public health professionals from states across the country. The same coalition of 23 cities and states, filed a lawsuit against HHS in May 2019 to challenge this discriminatory rule.

• 12/16/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG JOINS EFFORT TO DEFEND REFUGEES AGAINST UNLAWFUL EXECUTIVE ORDER

  Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of 12 attorneys general, led by California, Illinois, and Maryland, in an amicus brief seeking to block President Trump’s unlawful executive order on refugee resettlement and the U.S. Department of State’s recent attempt to implement that order’s consent requirement. The executive order seeks to upend the existing refugee resettlement process by requiring resettlement agencies to obtain written consent from state and local authorities before being able to place refugees in their jurisdictions.

• 3/25/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG JOINS COALITION OF 21 ATTORNEYS GENERAL IN BRIEF DEFENDING ACA IN TEXAS V. US

  Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general, led by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, in filing an opening brief in Texas v. U.S., defending the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the healthcare of tens of millions of Americans. The brief, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, argues that every provision of the ACA remains valid. It also details the harm that declaring the ACA invalid would have on the tens of millions of people who rely on it for access to high-quality, affordable healthcare, as well as the broader damage that it would do to the nation’s healthcare system.

• 12/5/2019 OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FILES PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI IN TWEED-NEW HAVEN AIRPORT CASE

  The Office of the Attorney General today filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court to review the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Tweed-New Haven Airport Authority v. Tong.

• 7/10/2019 AG TONG, DCP COMMISSIONER SEAGULL ANNOUNCE SETTLEMENT WITH HEALTH INSURER PREMERA OVER FAILURE TO PROTECT SENSITIVE DATA OF MILLIONS NATIONWIDE

  Attorney General William Tong and 29 other attorneys general filed a settlement today that requires Premera Blue Cross to pay a total of $10 million because of its failure to secure sensitive consumer data.

• 8/21/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG JOINS 51 ATTORNEYS GENERAL AND 12 COMPANIES IN FIGHT AGAINST ILLEGAL ROBOCALLS

  Attorney General William Tong today announced that a bipartisan, public/private coalition that he joined, consisting of 51 attorneys general and 12 phone companies, has agreed to adopt eight principles to fight illegal robocalls.

• 6/10/2019 ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG JOINS MULTI-STATE COALITION TO BLOCK T-MOBILE AND SPRINT MEGAMERGER

  (Hartford, CT) – Connecticut Attorney General William Tong joined 9 states today in filing a multi-state lawsuit to halt the proposed merger of telecom giants T-Mobile and Sprint. The complaint, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, was filed in New York federal court in coordination with Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C., alleges that the merger of two of the four largest national mobile network operators would deprive consumers of the benefits of competition and drive up prices for cellphone services.

• 9/25/2019 CONNECTICUT JOINS MULTISTATE CHALLENGE TO TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ROLLBACK OF ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT REGULATIONS

  Attorney General William Tong announced Connecticut has joined with 16 other states, the District of Colombia and the City of New York to challenge the Trump Administration's rollback of the regulations implementing the Endangered Species Act.