Which high-profile lawsuits did Pam Bondi pursue as Florida Attorney General?
Executive summary
Pam Bondi, as Florida attorney general from 2011 to 2019, led and joined several nationally prominent legal fights—most notably Florida’s role as the lead state in the 26‑state challenge to the Affordable Care Act and multistate litigation against pharmaceutical companies over the opioid crisis—while also defending controversial state laws on marriage, abortion counseling and public‑records disputes [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. Reporting and advocacy groups also single out Bondi’s interventions in immigration‑policy litigation and her office’s actions around public‑records disputes and consumer‑fraud probes as high profile elements of her tenure, though some specifics of those suits are characterized differently across sources [3] [6] [5].
1. The Affordable Care Act challenge — Florida as lead plaintiff in a 26‑state suit
Bondi continued and amplified Florida’s leadership in a 26‑state lawsuit that sought to overturn the Affordable Care Act, selecting veteran appellate lawyer Paul Clement to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court as Florida pressed the constitutional challenge to the individual mandate [1] [2]. Multiple reporting outlets and civil‑rights coalitions note that the state under Bondi joined other states in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to declare the ACA unconstitutional, a case that would have undone major health‑insurance reforms for millions if it had prevailed [1] [7] [8].
2. Multistate opioid litigation against drugmakers and “pill‑mill” enforcement
Bondi played a leading role in multistate actions against major pharmaceutical companies over their contribution to the opioid epidemic and coordinated statewide efforts to close “pill mills,” work that included contributing to national reports and cooperating with other state and federal actors on enforcement and policy responses to fentanyl and opioid trafficking [2] [3]. The Miller Center and other profiles credit Bondi with national prominence on opioid litigation and policy coordination during her tenure [2].
3. Immigration and related federal‑policy suits
Bondi “pulled the state into a lawsuit against Obama’s immigration policy,” according to local reporting that lists immigration litigation among her notable high‑profile interventions, reflecting her office’s willingness to challenge federal executive‑branch policies [3]. Available sources describe the intervention at a high level but do not detail every petition or brief her office filed on immigration policy, so reporting limits prevent a comprehensive inventory here [3].
4. Defending Florida laws on same‑sex marriage and reproductive counseling
As attorney general, Bondi defended Florida’s constitutional amendment banning recognition of same‑sex marriage and maintained that defending state law was her duty even as courts and advocacy groups criticized those positions, and her office also defended state laws requiring counseling and a 24‑hour waiting period for abortions—actions that generated litigation from religious and nonprofit groups challenging compelled speech and burdens on reproductive care [8] [4]. The Center for Reproductive Rights and advocacy groups documented lawsuits that named Bondi in her official capacity over these counseling and waiting‑period requirements [4].
5. Public‑records suits and settlement with Governor Scott’s office
Bondi’s office was a central actor in litigation over Florida public‑records and Sunshine Law compliance: Bondi and Governor Rick Scott’s offices agreed to a $700,000 settlement in 2015 resolving seven lawsuits alleging violations of Florida’s public‑records laws, and Bondi’s office published advisory opinions about the Sunshine Law during her tenure [5]. That settlement is widely cited as an unusual instance of the sitting governor and attorney general resolving a public‑records lawsuit together [5].
6. Other contentious interventions and limits of the record
Bondi’s tenure included involvement in contested matters surrounding consumer‑fraud investigations—such as pressure in the Lender Processing Services (robosigning) matter that led to reports she pushed two attorneys to resign—and controversies over whether to investigate entities tied to Donald Trump, matters that critics cite when assessing which high‑profile inquiries she pursued or declined [6] [9]. Sources document the events but do not uniformly classify each episode as a formal “lawsuit she pursued,” so the public record mixes affirmative litigation leadership with prosecutorial or enforcement decisions and political controversies [6] [9].