The tRump administration usually doesn’t care what people think of it. But this, THIS, is too good for a column to be passed up. Let me just show you how the administration thinks they could sweet-talk a *judge*. From Law & Crime:
The Trump administration is asking a federal judge in California to reconsider an order that would force it to disclose its plan for mass firings across multiple agencies as part of the president’s effort to gut the federal workforce, claiming that such “Agency Reductions in Force and Reorganization Plans” (ARRPs) contain privileged information that could, among other things, cause “embarrassment” or “annoyance” for the government.
H0, H0, H0. Busted!
The underlying litigation challenges President Donald Trump‘s Feb. 11, 2025, executive order: “Implementing The President’s ‘Department Of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative.” The order purports to commence a “critical transformation of the Federal bureaucracy” by “eliminating waste, bloat, and insularity.” Under the plan, administrative agency heads would be required to “initiate large-scale reductions in force” (RIFs), or massive layoffs, in service of the goal to restructure the government.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, a Bill Clinton appointee, granted a request from a coalition of labor unions, nonprofit groups, and municipalities to block the planned firings via a temporary restraining order. The judge also issued a “Disclosure Order” directing that ARRPs submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) be provided to the court by Tuesday.
(Okay, this may be older news, but it still needs mentioning.) Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. I’ve been waiting for this to happen with all the Executive Orders that Agent Orange has been throwing around. He and they have been assuming that no one will have the balls to fight them, and WHAM, it’s happened. The only surprise is that it took this long. This sort of thing has to go through *Congress*. You can’t just dance around the law. And it *is* the law. They’ve been playing fast and loose with these EOs, and it’s not working anymore. It’s about time!
“It is the prerogative of presidents to pursue new policy priorities and to imprint their stamp on the federal government,” Illston wrote in her Friday order. “But to make large-scale overhauls of federal agencies, any president must enlist the help of his co-equal branch and partner, the Congress.” The court expressed severe misgivings with how the Trump administration tried to achieve its aims.
One of the key problems, Illston observed, was tasking three agencies and offices — the OPM, the OMB, and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — with most of the heavy lifting. In the litigation, the plaintiffs single out specific memos by OPM and OMB and the widely-publicized — and often self-trumpeted — actions undertaken by DOGE as “unconstitutional and unlawful orders” as part of what they referred to as Trump’s “radical transformation.”
The court finds that neither OPM nor OMB has any statutory authority to terminate agency employees, aside from their own internal employees, or to order other agencies to “downsize” or to restructure other agencies. And, as far as the Elon Musk-led DOGE is concerned, the judge is withering: “As plaintiffs rightly note, DOGE ‘has no statutory authority at all.’”
As I said, H0, H0, H0, busted! The man WHO PAINTS HIS FACE ORANGE and his administration have been called out *in court* and now they have to answer for it. Embarrassment? Too bad, so sad. They just don’t want anyone to know how they’ve been playing around to push changes through via EOs. Well, they have to *stop* with that sh** and ASAP. The judge KNOWS *the law* and what the administration has been doing is really close to being against the law. Now they have to answer for it, and I’m d*mn near willing to bet that they’re *going* to be embarrassed. I’ll also bet those laid-off federal employees will be watching this with glee! (I’m still PISSED OFF about USAID.)
Finally, *finally*, the administration is being called out on all the bullsh** and they have to answer for it! It’s about time! *I* will be watching this with a great deal of enjoyment. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll go look around and see if I can find any more information. More interesting news to come, I think – don’t touch that dial! Thanks for sticking with me!
*****And now, please read ******
Zoomers, we are always in need of donations. It’s been an especially rough month, and my own health has not been great these past few weeks, which just adds to the frustration. Anything you can spare will be immensely appreciated. And thank you to all who have donated generously already. Ursula
All right!
See me hoping that it actually happens! Wouldn’t that be flat out AWESOME?