Law be damned, Trump asserts unilateral control over executive branch, federal service

[superchuck500]

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.

120. The Impoundment Crisis of 2025

The Trump administration's Monday spending freeze is likely to provoke a crisis over the constitutionality of "impoundment"—one that the justices could well have to resolve *very* soon.

www.stevevladeck.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Anti-protest bills that seek to expand criminal punishments for constitutionally protected peaceful protests – especially targeting those speaking out on the US-backed war in Gaza and the climate crisis – have spiked since Trump’s inauguration.

Forty-one new anti-protest bills across 22 states have been introduced since the start of the year – compared with a full-year total of 52 in 2024 and 26 in 2023, according to the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) tracker.

This year’s tally includes 32 bills across 16 states since Trump returned to the White House, with five federal bills targeting college students, anti-war protesters and climate activists with harsh prison sentences and hefty fines – a crackdown that experts warn threaten to erode first amendment rights to freedom of speech, assembly and petition.

In one example, the Safe and Secure Transportation of American Energy act would create a new federal felony offense that could apply to protests that “disrupt” planned or operational gas pipelines – which would be punishable by up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 for individuals or $500,000 for organizations.

The language in the bill is vague, which could, critics warn, lead to a rally blocking a road used for moving equipment or a lawsuit challenging a pipeline’s permit being classified as disruptive and prosecuted.

It is sponsored by seven Republicans including the senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the country’s largest oil and gas producing state, who chairs the committee considering whether the bill should progress.………

US intensifies crackdown on peaceful protest under Trump

Forty-one anti-protest bills in 22 states have been introduced since start of 2025, according to law tracker

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

guess this can go here

 

[MT15]

Didn’t he totally contradict himself? He first said he didn’t cancel any shows, zero! Then later he said he “got rid of the DEI bullshirt”. So which is it?

I’m going to say he’s a liar just like all the other MAGAs.

 

[bird]

Didn’t he totally contradict himself? He first said he didn’t cancel any shows, zero! Then later he said he “got rid of the DEI bullshirt”. So which is it?

I’m going to say he’s a liar just like all the other MAGAs.

And I am going to agree that Grenell is a MAGAt liar.

 

[superchuck500]

Next on Trump's list to destroy and render useless - the APA!

(And this bears recalling MAGA's exuberance over the SCOTUS revision of the Chevron standard . . . which means that courts are now far more able to invalidate an administration's revision to regulations)

 

[superchuck500]

 

[longtime lurker]

https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/s/dEwj2saqkL

 

[Optimus Prime]

Donald Trump on Friday said his administration is implementing a move that will allow far more firings of federal employees and will make significantly more roles into politically appointed positions beholden to the president.

The office of personnel management (OPM) on Friday published a new rule that invokes “Schedule F”, a prior attempt to reclassify wide swaths of federal workers not as civic service roles with protections regardless of who’s in power – but as political appointees who can be hired or fired based on their allegiances to the president.

“If these government workers refuse to advance the policy interests of the President, or are engaging in corrupt behavior, they should no longer have a job,” Trump wrote on Friday on his Truth Social platform. “This is common sense, and will allow the federal government to finally be ‘run like a business.’”

The president previously issued an executive order on his first day in office that reclassified a host of federal workers.

The policy unveiled on Friday is one Trump first sought late in his first presidency. But Joe Biden overturned it after defeating him in the 2020 election.

The idea aligns with a major plank of Project 2025, the conservative policy manifesto, which calls for a federal government more beholden to the executive branch to drive out a supposed “deep state” that stood in Trump’s way before he won his second presidency.

Most federal government employees serve in roles that are not politically appointed. About 4,000 employees are in roles appointed based on who is in power. Friday’s move would expand that by about 50,000 people, prior estimates have shown.…….

Trump to reclassify wide swaths of federal workers to allow for more firings

President announces more employees under ‘Schedule F’ can be hired or fired based on their allegiance to him

www.theguardian.com

 

[MT15]

This is directly from the Project 2025 handbook.

 

[Optimus Prime]

As Donald Trump nears the end of his first 100 days in office, he has issued a record-breaking high of 124 executive orders, while signing a record-breaking low of just five new bills into law, and caused concerns among constitutional scholars.

“These orders are extraordinary, not just in their number, but in their breadth,” said Rory Little, a law professor at the University of California- San Francisco said at a recent panel discussion.

“The current state of affairs can be characterized I think with no exaggeration as a crisis, a challenge to the rule of the law in the United States.”

Others in the panel noted how many of Trump’s executive orders have pushed into areas typically run by states.

Trump has set records for both his executive order tally and how few bills he has received from Congress.

Instead, he has governed by his signature and targeted immigration, tariffs, diversity programs, education and a host of other areas. He has taken pen to paper to reshape America in his image with little resistance or pushback.

“While some may legitimately applaud the policy goals that underlie some of these actions, I hope we can all agree these policy goals should be pursued lawfully, lest we end up living in the type of system envisioned by the president, where he is the only law,” fellow professor Jodi Short said.

Having signed only five bills means that Trump has signed fewer into law at this point in his presidency than any new president in the last 70 years, according to government records. He is followed by Joe Biden and George W Bush, who had each signed only seven apiece at the same juncture…….

In contrast, within his first three months back in the White House, Trump has already signed 124 executive orders, closing in on the totals issued by some of his predecessors during their entire terms.

In total, Biden signed 162 executive orders, Obama signed 277, Bush signed 291, and Clinton signed 364, according to the Federal Register. Trump, in his first term signed 220.

An executive order is a written directive, signed by the president, that orders the government to take specific actions to ensure “the laws be faithfully executed,” according to the ACLU. Such orders do not need the approval of Congress, but are open to legal challenge.……..

Trump has signed 124 executive orders but just five bills into law. Why that matters

The sheer volume of orders has raised concern over the expansion of the executive branch, with some critics of the president arguing that the actions risk prompting a ‘constitutional crisis’

www.independent.co.uk