Law be damned, Trump asserts unilateral control over executive branch, federal service (2 Viewers)

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    superchuck500

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    Following the Project 2025 playbook, in the last week, Trump and his newly installed loyalists have moved to (1) dismiss federal officials deemed unreliable to do his bidding (including 17 inspectors general) - many of which have protections from arbitrary dismissal, (2) freeze all science and public health activity until he can wrest full control, (3) freeze all federal assistance and grant activity deemed inconsistent with Trump's agenda, and (4) moved to terminate all federal employee telework and DEI programs.

    The problem is much of this is controlled by federal law and not subject to sudden and complete change by the president through executive order. Most notably is the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 that simply codifies what is the constitutional allocation of resources where Congress appropriates money to the executive branch for a specific purpose, the executive branch must carry out that statutory purpose. This is indeed a constitutional crisis and even if Congress abdicates to Trump by acquiescing, the courts must still apply the law - or rule it unconstitutional.

    And meanwhile the architect of much of this unlawful action is Russell Vought, Trump’s OMB nominee who the Senate appears ready to confirm.





     
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    A coalition of professors, diversity officers and restaurant worker advocates filed a federal lawsuit Monday in a bid to block President Donald Trump’s executive orders that target diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the U.S. government, the private sector and academia, alleging that he exceeded his authority in issuing them.


    The 40-page federal lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland, is the first such challenge to the sweeping orders issued in the first days of the new administration. The edicts to end “illegal discrimination” and “wasteful government DEI programs” have already resulted in widespread purges of federal workers.


    The plaintiffs include the American Association of University Professors, the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, and the mayor and city council of Baltimore.

    They’re asking a judge to block two of the DEI-related orders Trump issued in the first two days of his second term and rule that they are unlawful.

    The groups are being represented by Democracy Forward, a liberal nonprofit legal group that successfully persuaded a judge last week to temporarily block Trump’s order to pause trillions of dollars in federal spending. Asian Americans Advancing Justice — AAJC is also representing the plaintiffs…….

     
    FOIA request or more Democrats weaponizing the government?
    Ha, depends on who wins.

    I really mean the fight over them. He isn't going to think about that everything he is writing, texting, ordering etc. is all public record. He is either using his personal device or is using his gov issued devices. Either way the messages, data, and contacts is public property

    He is a tyrant's tyrant so the outrage when people ask to see up his skirt is going to be glorious.
     
    Hmmm…

    If Biden had established DOGE and put George Soros in charge of it the explosion of MAGA would have registered on the Richter scale.


    Can you even imagine if Biden had sent civilians into government offices and taken over every system, accessing extremely private data, unilaterally taking over the treasury using 19-24 year old college students without any clearances, and locking out anyone who actually works there??

    MAGA would be so angry their heads might literally explode like that scene in Scanners where that guy's head exploded.
     
    The US justice department fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on the criminal cases against Donald Trump hours after the president directly ordered it to take place in the Oval Office, according to two people familiar with the intervention.

    The move to purge people who worked for former special counsel Jack Smith had ostensibly come from the acting attorney general James McHenry, who sent the formal termination notices that said they could not be trusted to implement Trump’s agenda.

    But the genesis for the firings was Trump himself, according to two people directly familiar with the matter, and a demonstration of Trump’s unchecked power as he implements a new order where the justice department is answerable to the White House.

    The end goal of Trump’s team is for the president to have at his disposal a justice department that plays a leading role in enforcing his wishes and doing his bidding, under their version of a unitary executive, where the president directs every agency.


    Trump’s intervention to remove the prosecutors in Smith’s office was seen by some of his’s advisers as the start of their efforts to make it normal practice to have the attorney general work with the West Wing to enforce and enact its political agenda.

    The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

    After Trump instructed his advisers that he wanted the prosecutors gone, the White House presidential personnel office, led by longtime Trump ally Sergio Gor, issued a memo that directed the justice department to proceed and gave the move a degree of legal cover.

    The memo was then sent to the acting attorney general’s office, which issued the actual termination notices to those still at the department. The precise number is unclear because the department did not release names, but the trial team consisted of at least 18 lawyers.

    The justice department has gone through seismic change in the first days of Trump’s second term, with top officials demoted out of the deputy attorney general’s office and ousted from top positions in key components including the criminal, civil and national security divisions.

    Once the wider purges are completed, the expectation is for lawyers loyal to Trump to be installed in the vacancies. They could end up serving there for years, putting their own stamp on the department and transforming its future legal ideology to be aligned with Trump’s agenda.……

     
    A coalition of professors, diversity officers and restaurant worker advocates filed a federal lawsuit Monday in a bid to block President Donald Trump’s executive orders that target diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the U.S. government, the private sector and academia, alleging that he exceeded his authority in issuing them.


    The 40-page federal lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland, is the first such challenge to the sweeping orders issued in the first days of the new administration. The edicts to end “illegal discrimination” and “wasteful government DEI programs” have already resulted in widespread purges of federal workers.


    The plaintiffs include the American Association of University Professors, the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, and the mayor and city council of Baltimore.

    They’re asking a judge to block two of the DEI-related orders Trump issued in the first two days of his second term and rule that they are unlawful.

    The groups are being represented by Democracy Forward, a liberal nonprofit legal group that successfully persuaded a judge last week to temporarily block Trump’s order to pause trillions of dollars in federal spending. Asian Americans Advancing Justice — AAJC is also representing the plaintiffs…….

    Do they have standing?.
     
    Ha, depends on who wins.

    I really mean the fight over them. He isn't going to think about that everything he is writing, texting, ordering etc. is all public record. He is either using his personal device or is using his gov issued devices. Either way the messages, data, and contacts is public property

    He is a tyrant's tyrant so the outrage when people ask to see up his skirt is going to be glorious.

    The White House has clarified that Musk is a "special government employee" and ostensibly leading the DOGE (formerly US Digital Service) - a White House unit. SGEs are a form of government employment and they are not exempt from FOIA, federal records laws, etc. Anything he does for Trump or with DOGE will be subject to FOIA and federal records law, no matter what device he does it on (subject to relevant exemptions of course).

    SGEs are also subject to the ethics laws/rules for federal executive branch employees including conflicts of interest (e.g.18 USC Sec. 208). SGEs are prohibited from performing their duties in a way that aims to enrich themselves, their family, or any organization (i.e. company) that they have a substantial connection to. They must also file financial disclosures if they work more than 60 days (Musk apparently will do so).


     
    OPM tells agencies they can ignore express telework provisions in collective bargaining agreements.

     
    OPM tells agencies they can ignore express telework provisions in collective bargaining agreements.


    Yep, they're basically tearing up our telework agreements and they're also requiring everyone who previously were hired as remote workers to report to in office work. They're bat sheet with these new requirements and giving little leeway to make exceptions for workers who had these arrangements even prior to Covid.

    The worst is requiring field agents who do actually have to perform work at various locations in their area. Many which take place at alternative sites for accommodation purposes. I can't get too far into the weeds because of reasons, but suffice to say, the changes in such a short period of time is creating more problems than it solves.

    These power mad idiots are running the government into the ground.

    But, I guess that's the intent. It's terrible and it's going to cost taxpayers more than if they would have done nothing.
     
    Yep, they're basically tearing up our telework agreements and they're also requiring everyone who previously were hired as remote workers to report to in office work. They're bat sheet with these new requirements and giving little leeway to make exceptions for workers who had these arrangements even prior to Covid.

    The worst is requiring field agents who do actually have to perform work at various locations in their area. Many which take place at alternative sites for accommodation purposes. I can't get too far into the weeds because of reasons, but suffice to say, the changes in such a short period of time is creating more problems than it solves.

    These power mad idiots are running the government into the ground.

    But, I guess that's the intent. It's terrible and it's going to cost taxpayers more than if they would have done nothing.

    It's because they have no clue what they're doing and don't care. They're just following through with their ideological hate fest, consequences be dammed. And dumb Republican voters are all buying it all full stop. As if Musky and his goons is going to find a billion dollars in "fraud" in a couple of days from looking through a payment system. Republicans and their right wing extremism are the death of this country.
     
    And next on the hit list...


    I guess they'll just tear up the legislation that created the department back in 1979.
     
    OPM tells agencies they can ignore express telework provisions in collective bargaining agreements.

    I keep saying it.... this is crazy.

    An election shouldn't cause the entire federal work force to be in upheaval. Especially without any action from congress.

    I guess congress will do nothing until they see what the pain is.

    This feels like Trumps MO. Push as hard as he can on something or be disruptive. See what the reaction / outcry is. Stay with it or crawfish back...
     
    I keep saying it.... this is crazy.

    An election shouldn't cause the entire federal work force to be in upheaval. Especially without any action from congress.

    I guess congress will do nothing until they see what the pain is.

    This feels like Trumps MO. Push as hard as he can on something or be disruptive. See what the reaction / outcry is. Stay with it or crawfish back...
    His lemmings simply don't give a f....
     

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