White House Prepares Executive Order To Block State Ai Laws

The White House is preparing to issue an executive order as soon as Friday that tells the Department of Justice and other federal agencies to prevent states from regulating artificial intelligence, according to four people familiar with the matter and a leaked draft of the order obtained by POLITICO.

The draft document, confirmed as authentic by three people familiar with the matter, would create an “AI Litigation Task Force” at the DOJ whose “sole responsibility” would be to challenge state AI laws.

Government lawyers would be directed to challenge state laws on the grounds that they unconstitutionally regulate interstate commerce, are preempted by existing federal regulations or otherwise at the attorney general’s discretion.

The task force would consult with administration officials, including the special adviser for AI and crypto — a role currently occupied by tech investor David Sacks.

The order plays into a larger national debate over whether Washington or state capitals should set the direction of national AI policy. A congressional effort to block state AI laws as part of the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act collapsed this summer amid Republican infighting.

The executive order, in the draft obtained by POLITICO, would also empower Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to publish a review of “onerous” state AI laws within 90 days and restrict federal broadband funds to states whose AI laws are found to be objectionable. It would direct the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether state AI laws that “require alterations to the truthful outputs of AI models” are blocked by the FTC Act. And it would order the Federal Communications Commission to begin work on a reporting and disclosure standard for AI models that would preempt conflicting state laws.

Reached for comment, a White House official said that until an executive order is "officially announced” by the White House, “discussion about potential executive orders is speculation.”

The apparent plan to wield the power of multiple federal agencies against state AI laws comes in the middle of a campaign by congressional Republicans and White House officials to insert a moratorium on state AI laws into the year-end defense bill. That campaign is being cheered on by the technology lobby, which worries that a patchwork of conflicting state AI rules would be difficult to comply with.