For Every Action...
...There is, of course, an equal and opposite reaction. Given Donald Trump's bull-in-a-china-shop approach to
governance, wherein the goal is to produce as much short-term thunder as is possible, even at the expense of long-term
success, a whole bunch of blowback was inevitable. And in the last 48 hours or so, there's been a lot of it:
- Unfrozen: We wondered if it's actually legal for Trump to put a freeze on the disbursement
of funds already appropriated by Congress, and it turns out we're not the only ones who have doubts. A bunch of
nonprofit groups filed a suit, and a group of 20 blue-state AGs filed another. Yesterday, minutes before the freeze was
to take effect, U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan
imposed a stay
that lasts until Monday. She will hear oral arguments then, and may well extend the stay at that time.
In the end, the real game of the Trump administration is to get this before the Supreme Court, and to get the
Impoundment Control Act of 1974 declared unconstitutional, which would give Trump near-unlimited authority to spend
federal funds as he sees fit. So, while the President may have lost the battle yesterday, and may lose again next week,
he will hold out hope that he can win the war.
- Transphobia: Several of Trump's executive orders very clearly discriminate against trans
Americans. Since 2020, thanks to the Supreme Court's decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, sexual identity is a
protected class. It did not take civil rights lawyers long to put those two things together; there is now
a lawsuit
from a trans woman who is scheduled to be moved to a men's prison, and
another one
from six current trans service members and two other trans individuals who were planning to enlist.
- EEOC: Late Monday, Trump
once again
fired some appointees without following the rules. In this case it was two Democratic commissioners on the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission. They did not have time to get their lawsuits filed yesterday, but the suits are
expected today or tomorrow.
- Mail Model: As we have mentioned once or twice, the Office of Personnel Management has set
up a new e-mail system wherein every federal employee can be e-mailed at the same time. Two anonymous federal employees
have filed suit,
arguing that being added to an e-mail list against their will violates their privacy rights.
In short, Trump is going to keep the federal court system very, very busy. And the more lawsuits there are, the
longer it will take for any one of them to get resolved, thus making it harder for him to implement his plans (and see
below). Didn't anyone at Project 2025 think of this? (Z)
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