Thanks to Rosemary in BC for sending me this excellent resource!
List of the lawsuits at link: Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions by Just Security
This public resource tracks legal challenges to Trump administration actions. If you think we are missing anything, you can email us at email hidden; JavaScript is required. Special thanks to Just Security Student Staff Editors, Rick Da and Jeremy Venook, and to Matthew Fouracre and Nour Soubani.
The Tracker is part of the Collection: Just Security’s Coverage of the Trump Administration’s Executive Actions
The Tracker was first published on Jan. 29, 2025 and is continually updated. Last updated Feb. 6, 2025.
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@davidaxelrod:
So Elon Musk gets to police his own seemingly massive conflicts of interest?Just like social murderer BC’s Dr. Bonnie Henry scrapping ethics review of her unethical, kid-killing/maming COVID study that she conducted without parental consent or notification.
And Republicans in Congress refuse to allow him to be called to explain what he’s doing.
There are no rules.
There are no boundaries. There is no accountability.
Jessica Riedl @JessicaBRiedl Feb 4, 2025:
“Why aren’t you cheering Trump & DOGE? I thought you wanted spending and deficit cuts!”
Because I’ve been doing this for 25 years and can’t be tricked by gimmicky nonsense. Trump’s first term added $8 trillion in enacted spending hikes and tax cuts to the deficit – half of which was unrelated to the pandemic. This time around, Trump has proposed roughly $8 trillion more in tax cuts and spending hikes over the decade. And right now, a GOP Congress is preparing to abandon most reconciliation cuts and instead add $325 billion this year in new spending. We’re headed towards $4 trillion deficits within a decade.
So, no, I don’t get excited when DOGE cancels $1 billion in govt contracts. Or saves $3 billion in federal workforce reductions out of a $7,000 billion budget. Not when Trump and Congress are also preparing to add $800 billion more annually in proposed new tax cuts and spending.
And no, the huge savings are not coming. Even (unrealistically) eliminating 20% of the federal workforce would save $60 billion, and overhauling federal systems to sharply reduce payment errors may save perhaps $80 billion (and is probably unlikely too). For all of DOGE’s bluster, administrative and executive reforms would at best save 1-2% of federal spending and offset only a small fraction of Trump’s red ink agenda.
That leaves trying to unilaterally impound spending such as USAID—which is wildly illegal—or actually going to Congress to pare back spending the constitutional way. But Trump has already taken Social Security, Medicare, defense, veterans, border (and interest) off the table, which is 2/3 of all spending and is driving deficits. And the GOP Congress seems ready to give up on cutting the remaining one-third of spending. Want to cut spending and the deficit? How about they stop passing budget-busting bills. Don’t brag about your coupon-clipping frugality at the same time you are buying a $250,000 Ferrari. I’m not going to cheer Trump and DOGE for adding “only” $750 billion to deficits instead of $800 billion. We’re still going backwards.
I’ve spent decades studying the federal budget. I know that $7 trillion(!) behemoth inside and out – where the money really goes, and where the savings opportunities lie. So I can also detect bullshitters who talk tough about trillion-dollar spending cuts without doing their homework. It’s the ones who claim most spending goes to undefined “waste,” federal salaries, immigrants, foreigners, Ukraine, or non-working welfare recipients. It’s the ones who claim we can easily balance the budget or cut $1 trillion without specifying exactly what line-items to cut. Or that we can return to 2019 spending levels for each program, which means a 20% inflationary cut, defaulting on the federal debt, and kicking off every senior who has since retired into Social Security and Medicare. It’s all hot air and empty bluster. Tough talk without following through on anything substantive. Just wait until you see the final deficit numbers in October.
And this is why GOP movements to cut spending always fail. They make absurdly ambitious promises without doing their homework, understanding where the money goes, and specifying real plans to fix it. You can’t significantly cut the deficit just by cutting waste, firing bureaucrats, and defunding immigrants and foreigners. There are no easy short cuts. You have to stop cutting taxes and then address Social Security, Medicare, defense, and a lot of other popular programs. Wake me when the GOP goes there.
So, no, I will not get excited about a couple billion in DOGE savings on one hand while Trump pushes Congress to add $8 trillion over the decade in tax cuts and spending with the other hand. I’m not that gullible.
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Welcome Back to the Fight, This time I know our side will win by Steve Brodner, Feb 07, 2025, Greater Quiet
Thank you for subscribing to my daily work. Your paid sub makes it possible to carve out the time. Grateful to every one of my now 11K subscribers! You keep me up and scribbling!
More soon.
Steve
Refer also to:
Deb: Starlink should be banned in Canada based on Elon hacking into US servers.
