Well, that was expected, fast, and generally correct.
Brick Wall of Reality
As expected in this corner DOGE Hits the Courts
President Trump and Elon Musk might be able to ignore the squawking of Democrats in Congress and the press, but they can’t ignore the courts. Two judges weighed in Thursday to temporarily hold up the effort by Messrs. Trump and Musk to shake up the government. Whether those court orders become permanent will depend on the law.
About 60,000 federal workers have reportedly accepted a buyout offer emailed last week, agreeing to “deferred resignation” on Sept. 30. Unions representing government staff argue this breaks the law. Federal Judge George O’Toole Jr. on Thursday paused the buyouts until the legal questions can be heard next week. “I make no assessment at this stage of the merits of the claims,” he said at a brief hearing.
Separately, federal Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued an order Thursday limiting access to Treasury Department systems by a parachute team from Mr. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
While deferring a broader decision, Judge Kollar-Kotelly signed a temporary order, “with the consent of the parties,” to restrict Treasury’s ability to let outsiders peruse the checkbook. Two “special government employees” at Treasury who are affiliated with DOGE may continue their work, provided that their “access to payment records will be ‘read only.’” Ruling on a preliminary injunction to follow.
The American legal system has a good track record for sorting out such disputes, which is one reason not to panic every time Mr. Musk sneezes in the direction of another agency. If he and Mr. Trump want their economizing to stick, their actions must be legally defensible. If not, the two men will achieve much less than their frenetic energy suggests.
Judge Approves Limits on Sharing Treasury Data
Also note Judge Approves Limits on Sharing Treasury Data After Musk Allies Move In
The agreement, brokered by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington, allows two Musk allies who have been named Treasury employees to continue to access a payments system containing the personal and financial data of millions of Americans.
But it prohibited the two men, Tom Krause and Marko Elez, from sharing sensitive Treasury data with anyone outside the agency. She also limited Krause and Elez to “read-only” access, meaning they can read records but not alter them.
The White House said later on Thursday that Elez had resigned after The Wall Street Journal inquired about his connection to a deleted social-media account that advocated for racism and eugenics.
The agreement came after a lawsuit on Monday filed by a coalition of labor unions whose members are among the millions of people who receive payments from the federal government.
The deal doesn’t resolve the lawsuit, but rather is intended to “preserve the status quo” until Kollar-Kotelly can hear legal arguments, the judge said during a court hearing on Wednesday afternoon.
Is This Winning?
By overstepping bounds of authority, you risk giving up easy gains.
Whatever the decision, it will be appealed. Meanwhile, payments will go out.
If Trump flouts the courts, he can look forward to a third impeachment process that would tie up the second two years of his administration, if Republicans lose the House.
Losing seats mid-term is the norm, and Republicans have none to spare.
USAID Cancellation by Trump, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Details
I discussed some of this in my previous post USAID Cancellation by Trump, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Details
In the post I stated “Lawsuits are pending and Trump will lose. We should not be in this setup.“
Moments later came the court rulings (perhaps earlier and I was not aware of them).
I praised the effort of Musk to find suspect payments. And I still do.
But Trump had no legal authority to shut down the entire payment system. Nor did Musk have any legal ability to block transactions or shut anything down.
People Are Hard of Reading So Let’s Bold the Key Point
Sorry DOGE, but a blanket cancellation of all payments is unconstitutional.
USAID Critic claim that since President John F. Kennedy created USAID using an executive order in 1961, President Trump can do away with it via executive order.
However, the Congressional Research Service points out “Because Congress established USAID as an independent establishment within the executive branch, the President does not have the authority to abolish it; congressional authorization would be required to abolish, move, or consolidate USAID.“
Some of us (very few actually) want to see the President follow the law. I am in that group.
However, most people are hypocrites. The Left praised unconstitutional actions by Biden, and the Right is loudly cheering clearly unconstitutional Trump actions now.
I get it from both the Left and Right because I want both parties to follow the law.
Here’s a bit more legal analysis from Congressional Research Service.
Congress appropriates funds for USAID programs and operations in annual SFOPS appropriations; nearly all USAID programs are authorized through the FAA, as amended.
But If an Administration seeks to use appropriated funds for purposes not articulated, or in different amounts from what was previously justified for that fiscal year, including the transfer of funds between agencies, the Administration is required to notify Congress prior to taking the proposed action pursuant to provisions in the SFOPS appropriation.
President Trump acted outside the law. The court was correct to smack this down.
Contrast what has happened to what I said.
The Right Approach
What Trump should have done is allow Musk to search for questionable items and report them.
That part happened, but in an ugly way.
Then Trump could legitimately block those items. Also he could have directed USAID to look at and question every expense, flagging and temporarily those that are questionable.
Instead, Trump blocked everything except for “critical items” whatever that means.
The Unfortunate Reality
There is no advantage in releasing Musk in a China shop than releasing George Soros in the same China shop. No good will come from a reckless smashing of plates.
And the unfortunate impact might very well be the courts block everything when some very good things may have happened if Trump took a legitimate case-by-case look.
Lawsuits are pending and Trump will lose. We should not be in this setup.
Hypocrites are very willing to cheer Trump or Biden depending on what they want.
Most do not give a damn about the law when it is their side that’s breaking it.
And the result now is all payments will go out, including stuff like this.
My Comment
The Good
Rooting out fraud and ridiculous unauthorized payments is good. Moreover, there is grounds to fire everyone who sent out checks without questioning a single one.
The above image is a great example. In addition there is $8.2 million payments to Politico.
And there is strong evidence that Politico was paid to suppress stories on Hunter and Joe Biden.
The unseen is undoubtedly worse. It’s good to root out all of this fraud and corruption and prosecute when appropriate.
Now, all payments go out.
Is that winning?
I would rather block stuff like that and work with Congress to fix the rest and cut employees.