As if we have not been in a lessons not learned class since noon on January 20, 2025 today Newsweek reported: “One of the people who received an email from allies of Elon Musk was a federal judge overseeing a lawsuit aimed at blocking these messages. “I, like probably every other judge in the country,… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Courts
Millions of federal workers face Feb. 6 deadline over whether to resign
CBS News: “More than 2 million federal employees face a looming deadline: By midnight Eastern time on Thursday, they must decide whether to accept a “deferred resignation” offer from the Trump administration. If workers accept, according to a White House plan, they would continue getting paid through September but would be excused from reporting for… Continue Reading
Personal Discretion Over the Treasury’s Payments System Means the End of Democracy
Liberal Currents – Elizabeth Popp Berman: “On Friday night [January 31, 2025], Elon Musk’s team gained access to the Department of Treasury’s payments system, which processes the federal spending that makes up more than a fifth of the U.S. economy. Social Security, Medicare, agricultural supports, the National Parks—a large majority of government spending flows through… Continue Reading
Lawsuits Related to Trump Admin Executive Orders
Court Watch – Seamus Hughes – We put them all in one place. Editor’s Note: Pulling thousands of pages of court records for these cases requires payment of PACER fees to the U.S. Government. To offset our costs to provide the documents free to the public, please consider a paid subscription to Court Watch. Updated… Continue Reading
DOJ Jan 6 deleted info on all prosecutions from website
Scott MacFarlane @macfarlanenews.bsky.social – Though the Justice Dept has deleted information about its Jan 6 prosecutions from its website, a federal judge has issued an order listing and chronicling all of the cases and prison terms. The information is Here: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.231933/gov.uscourts.dcd.231933.176.0_1.pdf Continue Reading
Trump firings tee up broader legal clash over congressional power
Roll Call: “President Donald Trump’s firing of inspectors general and independent agency board members in the last week sets up another major legal clash over Congress’ power to put limits on the removal of federal officials, experts said. Since Friday, Trump removed more than a dozen inspectors general and Democratic members of the Equal Employment… Continue Reading
Impoundment Explainer
House Committee on the Budget – Impoundment Explainer, November 22, 2024 Fact Sheet Download Document Reports & Documents Budget Basics Focus on Function Letters Ranking Member Boyle’s Statement – “The legal theories being pushed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are as idiotic as they are dangerous,” said Ranking Member Boyle. “Unilaterally slashing funds that… Continue Reading
A Primer on the Impoundment Control Act
LawFare – “Refusals to undertake required spending are already a major theme of Trump’s second term, but the law limits such executive action. During his 2024 campaign, President Trump indicated that he planned to “restore executive branch impoundment authority to cut waste, stop inflation, and crush the Deep State.” Russell Vought, Trump’s pick to lead… Continue Reading
Trump’s death by a thousand cuts to D.C. federal workforce
Axios: “It’s only been a little over a week since President Trump took office, but already he’s unleashed a ream of actions targeting the federal workforce — a sort of government death via a thousand cuts. Why it matters: This unprecedented stream of executive orders and memorandums is unsettling Washington households as people scramble to… Continue Reading
ReproductiveRights.Gov Vanished, So We Brought It Back
Angela Levine – “The day after President Donald Trump began his second term, people noticed that they could no longer access a .gov web page outlining women’s rights to abortion and contraception under US law. The Biden administration created the web page, reproductiverights.gov, after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, ending… Continue Reading
Federal Court Rules Backdoor Searches of 702 Data Unconstitutional
EFF: “Better late than never: last night a federal district court held that backdoor searches of databases full of Americans’ private communications collected under Section 702 ordinarily require a warrant. The landmark ruling comes in a criminal case, United States v. Hasbajrami, after more than a decade of litigation, and over four years since the… Continue Reading
Trump issues sweeping pardon for convicted Jan6 insurrectionists
WTF Happened Today – Trump issued a sweeping executive order pardoning nearly 1,600 people convicted for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and commuting the sentences of 14 others, including members of extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. The move effectively ended the Justice Department’s four-year investigation into the… Continue Reading
