AG Rokita meets the late Stanley Strader's wife, Diane, at the Sharing the Dream event on MLK Day. Many Hoosiers gathered to celebrate Stanley's life and contributions by officially naming a newly renovated park after him.

Liberty in Action

As Indiana’s Attorney General, fighting for your liberty is my top priority. Below are some highlights of our work!

◊ Reviewing Rokita

◊ Supporting Our Law Enforcement

◊ Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

◊ Fighting For Election Integrity

How can we help you? Contact our Office for additional information, resources and more.

REVIEWING ROKITA

"THANK YOU for doing the job that we elected and trusted you to do. Our country is lost and we are tired of politicians telling us what to do and think! We aren't socialists. Kudos to you sir and THANK YOU AGAIN!" - Sue

"Thank you for your action on behalf of election integrity in the matter of Colorado's attempt to illegally remove President Trump from the primary ballot in that state. You are correct in stating that these actions would disenfranchise my (and every voting citizens) right to fair and honest elections. My sincere hope is that you will continue to prioritize this issue. I firmly believe that election integrity is the single biggest threat to our State, our Country and our way of life. Thank you again for your efforts." - Doug

"Thanks again for taking on Federal Overreach. The EPA is creating more problems in our lives. They keeps increasing the efficiency standards which increase the cost, however the projected saving don't even cover the cost increase. The same thing is happening to furnaces, hot water heaters and major appliances. This is abusive and needs to be stopped." - Rob

"Thank you for standing up against this insane movement to close down our power plants with zero plans for replacing them." - Pamela

"Thank you for your efforts to protect Hoosiers from the oppressive and regressive policies the Biden administration is trying to force on our power production." - Bambi

AROUND INDIANA

with Attorney General Todd Rokita

01.04: AG Rokita covers wide range of issues at Henry GOP Club meeting

Immigration, transgender issues and abortion. Bobby Knight, Steve Alford, Donald Trump, Mitch Daniels and Karl Marx. The southern border of the United States, Israel and Ukraine.

With so many issues, names and places in the news today, one would have thought this was a television talk show or radio podcast. In actuality, it was the latest meeting of the Henry GOP Club last Thursday night, where a large crowd listened intently as Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita discussed all of the above and more.

Those in attendance were treated to straight-forward remarks and passionate pleas from the man quite literally on the front lines of multiple battlegrounds.

‘Huge year coming up’

Rokita, who has served as Indiana Secretary of State and as a U.S. Congressman, has been Indiana Attorney General since 2021. He is seeking re-election to that office, but emphasized his race is far from the only one Henry County voters should follow.

“We do have a huge year coming up,” said Rokita, who is a supporter of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s bid to reclaim the White House.

Rokita paid tribute to New Castle’s rich basketball heritage and used it as a theme weaving together love of country and of Indiana, the sanctity of life and family values.

“I’m not unaware of where I’m at right now,” Rokita said. “This is home of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and Steve Alford, a guy who I adore, who played for a guy I respect and adore even more, Coach Knight.

“I’m coming into town thinking about Coach Knight and I recall maybe his most famous quote: ‘Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win.’ The key is not the will to win. Everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.”

“The last time I saw Coach Knight it was backstage at a Trump rally,” Rokita continued. “Coach Knight also was a supporter of President Trump. They were friends at the end.

“Are we prepared to win?” Rokita asked. “I say it’s pretty simple and we’ve been given the map already. You put America first.”

And, by definition, if you put America first, Rokita said, then “You’ll put Indiana first. You’ll put liberty, law and order, and family first.”

“Our institutions have been weaponized,” Rokita concluded. “It’s serious and I’m fighting it as your attorney general. There is a war on our values. I see it every week when I go into court for you on every issue.”

America and Indiana first

As millions of dollars go out to help Ukraine and thousands of people come seeking to cross America’s southern border, Rokita put the issue into a Biblical perspective.

“There’s nothing wrong and everything right with putting ourselves first,” he said. “Yes, God commands us to take care of the poor. He does not command us to have our government take care of the poor. Those are two very different things and I will fight for that.”

And Indiana taxpayers have come first in the attorney general’s office, Rokita claimed.

Rokita said his attorney general’s office has just surpassed its own record by giving Hoosiers $70 million back in unclaimed property, most in nearly a decade.

Those annoying robo-calls have been taken on with a vengeance, Rokita added, saying his office has leveled a record number of fines against them.

Abortion

“If you’re putting liberty first and you’re putting America first, then you’re putting life first,” Rokita said. “And there should be no secret how we feel about life.”

Rokita’s actions more than mirror his words. He and his wife’s oldest son, Teddy, has a rare condition.

“He has never said a word,” Rokita said. “He doesn’t know what day it is. But if he were here tonight, he’d give each of you the best hug you’ve ever had. That’s how we know that Teddy’s going to change the world. He’s going to do it one hug at a time.”

Does abortion rob the world of people like Teddy?

“These kids, these lives are special and no one should ever tell us they’re worth less,” Rokita said. “So we fight for life. Indiana was the first state in the nation to pass what is a reasonable law where abortion is concerned. We’re respecting life that doesn’t have any voice yet. We have reasonable exceptions built into that.”

Parental rights

Rokita said the Attorney General’s office was fighting hard for parental rights in a world where transgender issues have threatened to turn societal norms upside down.

“If you’re putting America first, you’re putting common sense first,” Rokita said. “You help the General Assembly pass common sense laws like if little Johnny comes to school and wants to be called a ‘she,’ you’ve got to call the parents, because it’s the parents’ job to raise children, not the school’s. You see us fight alongside schools that say ‘you know what, we don’t want to have boys in girls restrooms.’ We’re fighting that trans-sanity, that’s what I call it. We have been able to ban surgeries that hospitals were doing under the age of 18 to change their genitalia.”

Social vs. economic issues Rokita, who grew up in Munster, Ind., said former Gov. Mitch Daniels “is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.” But Rokita has come to disagree with Daniels where social issues are concerned. While Daniels emphasized a focus on the economic rather than the social, Rokita said it’s really hard to separate the two.

“I would have said government should stay out of the social issues,” Rokita said. “We should just focus on the economy. To a certain extent, that’s still correct. Social issues should be the church, it should be the community.

“But here’s my point now,” Rokita continued. “After 15 years of that, look where we are. Really? We’re supposed to be silent? I’ve come to this conclusion. They aren’t social issues. If you’re a Marxist trying to create chaos, which I believe is part of the plan, you’re trying to divide people into the oppressed and the oppressors. Whether it’s in the school room or in Israel, I think that’s what’s happening.

“If you believe, as you should, that Marxism is an economic movement, the taking over of labor and capital, then these really aren’t social issues. They are economic issues. Free enterprise, in order to work, has to have a strong family unit as its foundation, because that’s where you transfer values and that’s where you learn individual responsibility. Socialism, on the other hand, hates a family unit because government is supposed to be the mother, the father, the big brother.

“So when these people attack life and attack the family, when they say parents of little Johnny don’t have to be notified that he thinks he is a girl, that’s all a division of the family. That’s a chaotic attempt to stop personal responsibility from flowing from one generation to another. It’s very intentional, whatever the issue – the border, critical race theory, transgender issues. That’s the war I’m talking about. That’s the war I’m fighting at the attorney general’s office.

“But I need your help. You need to be involved. You each have a sphere of influence.”

And the attorney general charged with upholding Indiana laws closed on this note: “It would be a crime if you sat silent.”

01.15: AG Rokita attends Sharing the Dream event on MLK Day

AG Rokita joined fellow Hoosiers, community leaders, and the family of the late Stanley Strader for the 16th Annual Sharing the Dream event in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year, Citizens Energy and community partners donated $300,000 and hundreds of hours to refurbish and rename Bethel Park in memory of Stanley Strader. #MLKDay2024

01.19: Celebrating a record-setting year with the Unclaimed Property Staff

AG Rokita recently celebrated his outstanding Unclaimed Property Staff for their incredible record-setting year of returning over $81 million dollars to regular, everyday Hoosiers. We’re proud of this achievement and will continue working hard to set even more records! Visit IndianaUnclaimed.gov to see if there's money waiting for you.

01.12: Team Rokita participates in Red, White, and Bowl event

Team Rokita hit the lanes and participated in the Red, White, and Bowl event! Members of the office helped raise money for the organization Bowlers to Veterans Link, which supports our nation’s heroes. Thank you to Hammer and Nigel for putting all of this together!

NEWS ABOUT THE OFFICE

Attorney General Todd Rokita’s litigation team wins 100% of jury trials on state’s behalf in 2023

Attorney General Todd Rokita congratulated members of his office’s litigation team, which won 100 percent of the eight jury trials in which it defended the state’s interests in 2023.

“To achieve a 100 percent success rate in these proceedings demonstrates both the integrity of the entities we defend and the skills of the lawyers working at this office,” Attorney General Rokita said. “Not only do these wins save money for Indiana taxpayers, but they also provide peace of mind to citizens who want to see justice prevail.”

As the State of Indiana’s law firm, the Office of Attorney General’s dedicated litigators represent the state and its agencies, officials, elected leaders, and employees in a wide variety of legal proceedings — including federal and state jury trials. Every day, the office fights to protect the legal interests of the state and its citizens and defend the rule of law.

By securing the state’s legal victories in all of its federal and state jury trials, Attorney General Rokita’s government litigation team saved Hoosier taxpayers well into the six figures, said Chief Counsel of Litigation Patricia Erdmann.

Besides the jury trial wins, the team also has saved millions through ongoing successful advocacy and motion practice in other cases. Working under Erdmann, Section Chief Adrienne Pope oversees government litigation.

Attorney General Rokita thanked both Erdmann and Pope for their strong leadership and effective oversight of litigation strategy and jury trial arguments.

“Hoosiers can rest assured they are in good hands when it comes to the professional litigators representing their state government in legal matters,” Attorney General Rokita said. “I am proud every day to work with individuals who serve this state with servants’ hearts.”

Attorney General Todd Rokita reunites hardworking Hoosiers with a record breaking $81 million in 2023 and continues to succeed in his New Year's resolution to return another record-breaking amount of cash

Attorney General Todd Rokita invites fellow, regular Hoosiers to visit IndianaUnclaimed.gov to see if they have some extra money waiting for them to make this year even better than the last.

“We set the record last year by returning over $81 million to our hardworking Hoosiers who deserve to have their money returned,” Attorney General Rokita said. “My office is committed to serving the people of Indiana and protecting their individual liberty. Getting unclaimed property back in the hands of its rightful owner is crucial.”

With the new year rolling in, let’s celebrate together with newly discovered cash.

After decimating the prior record set in 2014, Attorney General Rokita’s office returned over $81 million in unclaimed property to its rightful owners in 2023. Since taking office, Attorney General Rokita has returned $191 million in unclaimed property.

New property is added to indianaunclaimed.gov regularly. Make it your New Year’s resolution to search for your name or your family.

Regularly, unclaimed property is any financial asset with no activity by its owner for an extended period of time. This can include once unclaimed property in its custody. The Unclaimed Property Division at Attorney General Rokita’s office conducts outreach efforts to locate the rightful owners or heirs.

Individuals and/or businesses have 25 years to claim money once it is reported to the Unclaimed Property Division.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are still waiting to be claimed, and it can be returned to its rightful owners this year.

Visit IndianaUnclaimed.gov or text CLAIM to 46220 to search your name, family, or business.

You can also contact the Unclaimed Property Division at 1-866-462-5246 or [email protected].

You may also like and/or follow the Unclaimed Property Division on Facebook.

Attorney General Todd Rokita successfully defends 25-foot ‘buffer zone’ protecting police at crime scenes

Attorney General Todd Rokita has prevailed on behalf of regular law-and-order Hoosiers who love their police in defending the constitutionality of an Indiana law creating a 25-foot buffer zone around police officers performing official duties.

The law prohibits bystanders from approaching any closer than that distance when police officers are working accidents, crime scenes, investigations or other such events. Under the law, an individual violating an officer’s order to observe the buffer zone may be charged with a misdemeanor.

“Our brave men and women in law enforcement risk their lives daily to uphold our laws and safeguard Hoosiers’ peace and safety,” Attorney General Rokita said. “The very least we can do is enforce reasonable measures to protect these officers’ own lives.”

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit last year claiming the buffer-zone law infringed on the First Amendment rights of citizens, including journalists, to document and observe police activities.

This month, a federal judge rightly noted that the law “never once permits an officer to tell a reporter or citizen-journalist to leave altogether or to cease recording police activity” and “has only an incidental effect on the public’s First Amendment right to capture audio and video and otherwise scrutinize police conduct.”

Another lawsuit on this matter filed by several media outlets remains pending in another federal district court.

“Both the law and everyday Hoosiers are on our side in standing strongly behind our courageous police officers,” Attorney General Rokita said. “We are confident we will prevail as well in the other case brought by fake-news types trying to overturn this good law.”

police25gov.uscourts.innd.115782.36.0.pdf

Attorney General Todd Rokita co-leads 27 states in support of Donald Trump’s appeal to US Supreme Court

Attorney General Todd Rokita and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey are leading a 27-state brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of former President Donald Trump’s right to appear on the Colorado ballot in 2024.

The brief asserts that the Constitution gives Congress, not courts, authority to decide who is eligible to run for federal office under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.

“American voters choose the President, not a partisan court in Colorado,” Attorney General Rokita said. “This is an obvious attempt to confuse and disenfranchise millions of voters wanting to cast their ballots for former President Donald Trump.”

The brief asserts the state court’s decision to declare former President Trump an insurrectionist has vast consequences that reach far beyond Colorado and will create widespread chaos just weeks before an election cycle. Given that reality, the brief argues, the U.S. Supreme Court should immediately intervene.

“Trust in the integrity of our elections is essential to a free republic,” Attorney General Rokita said. “If activist judges in Colorado can dilute the voices of ordinary voters in states like Indiana, all confidence in our election process will be lost.”

For elections to be fair, voters need a single, certain answer as to whether former President Trump is eligible to run for president under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The 27-state petition for writ of certiorari is attached below.

23-719 tsac Indiana West Virginia.pdf

Attorney General Todd Rokita reminds Hoosiers to be alert during National Human Trafficking Awareness Month

Attorney General Todd Rokita is asking Hoosiers to stay alert for signs of human trafficking in communities across Indiana and to report any suspicious activities to authorities.

“Human trafficking may seem like an issue that doesn’t affect your specific community, but it’s sometimes brushed under the rug because victims are either scared to admit the truth or are groomed at a young age,” Attorney General Rokita said. “Online recruitment has played a major role in this crime. Our kids are extremely vulnerable to sex trafficking and exploitation due to their excessive online presence. I encourage all parents to monitor their child’s online interactions to keep them safe.”

Human trafficking is a billion-dollar criminal enterprise. It occurs anytime someone uses force, fraud, or coercion to make another individual provide labor, services, or commercial sex acts.

People in certain job roles — such as medical professionals, restaurant workers, teachers, and truck drivers — are particularly likely to encounter trafficking victims.

With January being National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, it is a fitting time to remind Hoosiers to stay watchful and look out for signs of a potential trafficking victim.

“Human trafficking is a rapidly growing crime in Indiana and across our country,” Attorney General Rokita said. “Increasing awareness and education on the topic is the first step in helping these victims. Hoosiers value justice, and these callous enslavers should pay for their despicable crimes.”

According to the U.S. State Department, signs of human trafficking include observations that someone:

·         lives with their employer.
·         lives with multiple people in a cramped space.
·         otherwise experiences poor living conditions.
·         is prohibited from speaking alone to strangers.
·         gives answers that appear to be scripted and rehearsed.
·         has an employer holding their identity documents.
·         shows signs of physical abuse.
·         is submissive or fearful.
·         is unpaid or paid very little.
·         is under 18 and working in the commercial sex industry.

If you have suspicions that someone is being trafficked, you should immediately call local law enforcement. You may also call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.

The Office of the Attorney General operates the Address Confidentiality Program, which helps protect victims of certain crimes — including those who have been trafficked — by concealing their residential address from the public and thereby their victimizers.

Learn more about the program at the Attorney General’s website.