The courts are putting the brakes on some of President Donald Trump’s efforts to quickly trim and transform the federal government.
In his first weeks of office, Trump has more than 50 presidential orders aimed at restructuring government, from targeting birthright citizenship to changing the way transgender prisoners are kept. I signed it. The agency is also trying to use the order to freeze federal funds across the country and provide acquisitions to the majority of government officials.
The flood of orders has led to more than 20 lawsuits so far, and at least temporarily halting some of Trump’s actions. At least three such decisions were released on Thursday.
And on Thursday night a pair of unions sued the Trump administration over efforts to dismantle the US International Development Agency.
Let’s take a look at Trump’s order, which was stopped by the court.
Doge
Retirements and union members will allow Elon Musk’s government efficiency, or Doge staff to access the federal government’s large payment and collection system, as well as personal data housed therein. A legal challenge was submitted to the decision.
They are claiming that the move is in violation of federal privacy laws, and are seeking orders by Doge, except for access to data, and asking for returns of data that has already been harvested. The Department of Justice has agreed to restrict access to the system until the results of the full hearing on February 24th issue are held back.
In a related incident this week, a group of union members filed a lawsuit attempting to block Trump from accessing confidential information from the Labor Department.
Another challenge lies in the pipeline. The 12-state coalition announced plans on Thursday to appeal for access to Doge’s financial system.
Government acquisition
As part of Trump’s efforts to reduce the federal workforce, the Human Resources Administration recently announced a mass “deferred resignation” program that allows workers to resign now but be paid until September. The deadline to accept the offer was Thursday night, with 60,000 people saying it had been accepted earlier that day.
The federal workers’ union has sued the program to stop, claiming that the Trump administration does not have legal authority to provide such purchases.
A federal judge in Boston blocked the government from implementing the takeover on Thursday at least by Monday.
One outcome of the judge’s order is that it has extended the length of how long workers must respond to their resignation offer.
“We are grateful to the judge for extending the deadline, so if more federal workers refuse to show up in the office, we can make this very generous once-in-a-lifetime offer. ” NBC News statement.
Babies and citizenship
One of the most controversial executive orders of Trump is what he calls “protecting the meaning and value of American citizenship,” and is seeking to limit birthright citizenship. They are attempting to limit such citizenship to people who have at least one parent who is a US citizen or permanent resident. Highly skilled workplace and student visas.
Many lawsuits across the country are challenging the order. This week, federal judges in Maryland and Washington issued nationwide interim injunctions.
In ruling Thursday, US District Judge John C. Corneau wrote that “citizenship by birth is a clear constitutional right.”
A Seattle judge wrote, “The President cannot change, restrict or qualify this constitutional right by an executive order.”
The Justice Department appealed to Seattle’s decision Thursday night.
Fundraising Freeze
A pair of federal judges responded to his executive order, temporarily blocking the Trump administration’s directive freeze on federal aid funding.
A memo from the Office of Management and Budget last week told federal agencies that “may be related to all federal financial assistance obligations or payments, as well as administrative orders related to topics like foreign countries.” Instructed to temporarily suspend certain other related institutional activities: assistance and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The memo said the suspension would allow the administration to confirm which programs are “in line with” Trump’s agenda.
The vaguely written memo was withdrawn after being confused about which aid would be suspended, reporting that people and organizations were unable to access the system to receive federal aid.
In Friday’s ruling, Rhode Island J. McConnell registered it in a temporary restraining order after the memo was withdrawn. Leavitt said he tweeted to the public that “this is not a withdrawal of the federal funds freeze.” This is simply a withdrawal of the OMB memo. ”
The judge found that the White House’s actions appeared to be in violation of the law. “Federal law specifies how executives should act if they believe the budget is inconsistent with the president’s priorities. It must ask Congress, not act unilaterally. It must,” he wrote.
US District Judge Lauren Alican said that even after the memo was retracted, there are “individuals who have problems accessing funding platforms” before handing out the ruling in separate DCs in Washington, D.C. on Monday I did.
“It shows that for me the notes still do some work,” she said.
Transgender inmates
Another Trump order targets transgender prisoners, and the Federal Prison Bureau said it needs to ensure that men are not detained in women’s prisons.
That led to two lawsuits filed on behalf of four transgender female prisoners who were scheduled to be transferred to the men’s facility. They argued that the order constituted a cruel and unusual punishment because it exposed the man to a serious risk of violence and sexual assault in the facility.
Two judges prevented the inmates from moving.
In a lawsuit involving three prisoners, US District Judge Lois Lambers said that Washington, DC, Judge Lois Lambers said, “The public interest in seeing plaintiffs move to men’s facilities soon is at most minimal. “I concluded.
Lamberth said, “Only about 16 male-to-female women are housed in prisons for women, including plaintiffs, due to the defendant’s own admission.” He said the government had not even argued that the three inmates would “show a threat to the female inmates who were detained with them, or that this threat cannot be managed locally by prison staff.”
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