Twenty Democratic-led US states and Washington, DC, have filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration, alleging it has illegally weakened protections under the 1973 Endangered Species Act — a landmark law credited with helping recover populations of grizzly bears, condors, and humpback whales. The first suit challenges a new rule that narrows the legal definition of "harm" to endangered species, effectively allowing mining and oil drilling in sensitive habitats provided the activity is not directly aimed at a specific animal. The second targets rules that strip automatic protections from newly threatened species and require the government to weigh private companies' objections before designating critical habitats, which the states argue leaves wildlife with fewer safeguards than Congress intended.