New Lawfare Advisory Council will interfere with attacks on ranchers, farmers

The America First Policy Institute announced the launch of its Lawfare Advisory Council.

The Council’s purpose is to bring together legal experts to help protect ag producers from being targeted by government employees or agencies seeking to do harm.

“The goal of the Council is to use our legal experts to evaluate individual cases of federal and state regulations being used against producers,” said Tate Bennet, AFPI Director of Rural Policy.

The group’s news release says, “The council will identify and review cases in which U.S. farmers and ranchers have been targeted by state and federal agencies, as well as nongovernmental organizations and environmental groups, through collusion, weaponization, and abuse of power.”

Bennet previously served as Special Assistant to the President on Agriculture, Trade, and Food Assistance at the National Economic Council under Director Larry Kudlow during the first Donald J. Trump Administration. She also served at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in senior roles during the first Trump Administration, including as the Agriculture Adviser to the Administrator and the Associate Administrator for the Office of Public Engagement and Environmental Education. Bennett has extensive legislative experience, having worked in both the U.S. House and Senate for various Members of Congress, where she negotiated provisions in the 2014 Farm Bill. 

Now, Bennet, along with other Council members will work to stop situations like misuse of eminent domain and will help industry members navigate issues with federal lands, grazing rights and more, said Bennet.

She said the Maude case (South Dakota family charged with felony theft of federal property over fenceline that may or may not be along property lines) is a classic example of a situation where the Council would want to investigate.

Bennet said they are looking into the fines levied by the state of Washington on the King Ranch over what the state claims are “wetland” but the King Ranch says are watering holes for livestock and wildlife.

The council team include names many agriculturists recognize, including Chief Legal Affairs Officer Leigh Ann O’Neill, heavy hitters like former U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman and country music artist John Rich will lend their expertise and advocacy. Other council members include Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita; former U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt; former special advisor to President Donald J. Trump Daniel Epstein; Wyoming attorney Sarah Falen Tate; Utah federal lands attorney and rancher Hayden Ballard, former Department of Justice chief of staff for Environment and Natural Resources Corrine Snow; and consultant, strategist, and criminal justice advocate John Koufos.

Other examples of cases the Council is looking to get involved with are: Potter County, California where agriculture producers and residents rely on a 100 year old hydroelectric project which supplies 600,000 Northern Californians with water. This July, the Pacific Gas & Electric filed their formal surrender application asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to let the company move ahead with dam demotion, according to UNWON’s Keely Covello.

Upon request by Bennet and the Lawfare Advisory Council along with many others, the comment period on the commission’s decision has now been extended to Dec. 19, 2025.

Bennet said the Mexican wolf reintroduction in New Mexico is also on their radar, along with a variety of other issues.

Private property is essential to liberty and freedom. It protects individual rights, ensures the distribution of power, and guarantees resource access by the private citizen, said the news release.

Rural Americans facing risks to their family farms or ranching operations can send concerns to aglawfare@americafirstpolicy.com.

What is the America First Policy Institute?

According to the website, The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan research institute. AFPI exists to advance policies that put the American people first. Our guiding principles are liberty, free enterprise, national greatness, American military superiority, foreign-policy engagement in the American interest, and the primacy of American workers, families, and communities in all we do.

Bennet explained that the AFPI was established by current U.S. Secretary of Agirculture Brooke Rollins following the first Trump Presidential term.

Rollins served as the head of domestic policy council in the first Trump term and she, along with Larry Kudlow who also served on Trump’s staff, ran with the idea of a national foundation to advance America-first policy.

In addition to agriculture, the AFPI focuses on health care, environmental issues, big tech and more. “We are looking at the next 100 years with America-first policy,” she said.

Ten states including Florida, Pennsylvania, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Minnesota, Ohio, North Carolina, Georgia and New Jersey are home to local chapters.

The organization is privately funded and doesn’t accept lobbyist or corporate dollars, she said.

The AFPI can be thought of as a think tank of sorts, but, “We pride ourselves on being more of a ‘do-tank’ than a ‘think-tank,'” she said, and believes they are the first of this kind of group to focus on agriculture. “Our founder is the Secretary of Agriculture. We have a farmer-first agenda, looking out for farmers and ranchers. We work groups such as R-CALF USA,” she said.

“Our policies are ground up,” she said.