Republican Liz Murrill served as Louisiana’s solicitor general for several years, emerging as a prominent strategist not only for her state but also in lawsuits brought against the Biden administration by Republicans across the country. When her old boss Jeff Landry was elected governor in November, Murrill succeeded him as attorney general.
Governing asked Murrill about her new role. Edited excerpts follow:
Governing: Louisiana has successfully sued the Biden administration a number of times. What are some of your biggest priorities looking ahead in terms of fighting federal overreach?
Liz Murrill: Fighting the Biden administration’s failure to stem the tide of illegal immigration at the border and continuing to challenge the Biden administration’s flawed approach to energy policy will continue to be priorities for me at the federal level. These are policies that have an enormous impact on Louisiana. They cost us a lot of money, they cost us jobs and at the end of the day, in virtually every one of these lawsuits that we brought, we believe the administration has had no authority to pursue these policies.
Governing: Are there areas where you collaborate with Democratic attorneys general from other states?
We always will join together where we have common ground. Some of those areas include consumer protection and crime. We all want our communities and our states to be safe. Fraud and fentanyl don’t know what party you belong to.
Governing: It’s early, but what have been the biggest surprises for you in going from being the top litigator in the AG’s office to actually being the AG and leading the office?
It’s not a surprise, but it certainly is a change when you become the elected official. It’s a much more outward-facing role. You do represent the people. You are the person they gave their vote to and elected to represent them. It means a lot to me when someone tells me they voted for me. That means they gave me something valuable. They’re entrusting me with their representation as the attorney general of our state.
Governing: It’s 2024 and you’re the first woman to serve as Louisiana attorney general. How important is that breakthrough?
I think people elected me because I was the right person for the job and because of my experience. But having said that, I do think it’s important to have good role models in office, and it was an important ceiling to break. I know as I go around the state and talk to parents with daughters, sometimes young women in law school, or they’re thinking about going to law school, it’s important to them that they can see someone like me who’s in this chair.
