DOGE, Trump, and The Federal Judiciary, Part V

Really smart people are really stupid entirely too often!

By Rich Kozlovich, Tags: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV

 

Everyone knew from the beginning of this DOGE activity they were going to have to do battle with the federal courts.   Since the Congress can't stop it, the media is so reviled they're incapable of stopping anything now, that meant the left, the American Marxists, socialists, Democrats, and the corrupt (oops, sorry there I go again repeating myself ) were going to resort to the federal courts, many of which are run by corrupt leftist political hacks.  

Let's be clear, this cartoon wasn't meant to be a compliment to Trump, Musk, or his DOGE team, but it is a reality many think is necessary and are applauding the chainsaw approach.  Only it isn't a chainsaw approach.....it's an audit!  An audit that's uncovering massive levels of corruption and crime!  All of which demands corrective action to stop whats going on in the federal bureaucracies. 

I think this isn't just an opportunity to bring these bureaucracies under control, it's an opportunity to take on the abuses by the federal judiciary, and the battle at the Treasury Department is going to be the acid test.

Initially a vile leftist judge attempted to block DOGE from having access to the Department of Treasury's records was the same character wh0 threw a 78 year old pro life woman into prison.  Her order didn't prevent access entirely it merely limited that access to two DOGE employees, and imposed a "read only" access forbidding making any changes in their corrupt system of payments.

Then two days later in the Southern District of New York, where a ham sandwich could be charged with a crime and found guilty, Judge Paul Engelmayer responded to a complaint by 19 state's Attorney's General that what DOGE was doing "presents a unique security risk to the States and State residents whose data is held", which is interesting logic as a way to prevent exposure of fraud and criminal activity, and the judge bought into that somehow believing the federal judiciary can tell the President of the United State he can't oversee the departments he's responsible for under the Constitution.  I'll tell you what, we'll come back to that. 

Access was limited to “civil servants with a need for access … who have passed all background checks and security clearances and all information security training” required by laws and regulations”............

Not only has he entered a "no access" judgement, he's ordered the immediate destruction of all data they've obtained thus far, in spite of the fact they've shown massive levels of fraudulent payments.  Why? 

This ruling is absolutely insane, and it's illegal.  His ruling was "issued ex parte, meaning the Trump administration, employers weren’t given notice, weren’t allowed to argue, weren’t even in the room. Only these, these Democrat attorneys general were heard. The judge cites no law or logic to support this really aggressive order........”  Where in the Constitution does it give this judge the authority to ignore the rule of law and prevent the President of the United States and the new Secretary of the Treasury from having access to:

"any Treasury Department record, payment systems, or any other data systems maintained by the Treasury Department containing personally identifiable information and/or confidential financial information of payees, other than to civil servants with a need for access to perform their job duties within the Bureau of Fiscal Services.”

Their argument is the President of the United States, the head of the Executive Branch, and anyone he appoints to review what federal agencies are doing is illegal, but the actions by those already there, who were appointed by former Presidents, are legal.    Does the word bizarre come to mind?   

And it gets more bizarre as it was a "late-night order ", which should send up red flags right from the start, and this ruling continues to be more bizarre. Musk's DOGE team (which isn't a bunch of snot nosed kids as the media has portrayed them, and if the President of the United States clears them, then they're cleared as POTUS has ultimate clearance authority) has uncovered massive fraud at Treasury finding, just at this point, 100 billion dollars of fraud, and when Musk was asked how is it no one noticed and did nothing he retorted:

Treasury management cared enough before. I do want to credit the working level people in Treasury who have wanted to do this for many years, but have been stopped by prior management. Everything at Treasury was geared towards complain minimization. People who receive money don’t complain, but people who don’t receive money (especially fraudsters) complain very loudly, so the fraud was allowed to continue.

Remember, these are the management people are the only people Judge Paul Engelmayer says should have access to department data, and the changes the President wants made to prevent all that fraud must not be implemented.  

• Elon Musk Outlines ‘Super Obvious’ Changes Treasury Has Agreed to Make for DOGE
• Musk Says DOGE, Treasury Agree on New Anti-Fraud Measures to Claw Back $50 Billion in Payment Fraud

Francis Menton permits me to publish his work, and this piece appeared at his Manhattan Contrarian last week, Democracy: What You Think It Means Versus What The Establishment Thinks, disputing this idea that DOGE is an illegal power grab asking:

Is there any organization in the country where the CEO and his staff don’t have access to the “central payment system” and the “personnel data”? How can any organization operate without that?............So Glasser joins Marcus in thinking that there is some significance to the fact that Musk is “unelected.” Do they not realize that the federal executive branch consists of only one elected person and another several million all of whom are un-elected? In summary, these people have been reduced to meaningless sputtering. They desperately want what Trump and Musk are doing to be an “illegal power grab,” but they can’t even think of or articulate a reason why.

In Menton's article, Kindergarten Konstitutional Law Comes To The Southern District Of New York, he notes "Article II of the Constitution is the line that describes the President’s main job: “[H]e shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”, he then asks:

Is the federal judge taking the position that in the name of enforcing the Take Care Clause, it is the role of the judiciary to oversee whatever the President does with the executive power that the Constitution vests in him? Is there some extra-legal notion that the federal judge should seize the power to put on the brakes when a President with questionable judgment is moving too fast?

By what constitutional provision does this judge assume such power?  None, and that is the basis for challenging this ruling that no court can sever Presidential supervision mandated by Article II’.

 J.D. Vance Reminds Activist Judges to Stay in Their Lane “If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal,”.... “If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal. Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”...........These frivolous lawsuits are akin to children throwing pasta at the wall to see if it will stick. … 

This activist judge has resorted to locking the Senate-confirmed Secretary of Treasury out of his role. It’s absurd and judicial overreach,” .........““Grandstanding government efficiency speaks volumes about those who’d rather delay much-needed change with legal shenanigans than work with the Trump Administration of ridding the government of waste, fraud, and abuse.”

Judges have intervened to limit Trump’s early efforts related to:

1. Birthright citizenship
2. Sweeping spending freezes
3. Government-wide resignation program, and the relocation transgender prison inmates.
4. Another judge blocked Trump from putting 2,200 USAID workers on leave.
   

Eric Utter, one of my favorite writers states that which should be obvious to the most casual observer.  These agencies "squandered" the taxpayers money, stole their freedom, dignity, along with their confidence and trust in America's government, without "which no society can long endure", even "forcing us to pay public servants and members of the mainstream media to lie to us."

Deep Staters have engaged in lying, obfuscation, gaslighting, projection, misuse of funds, and taxation without representation … for starters. No person with a conscience and an IQ over 50 should ever again access, let alone trust, the legacy media. Similarly, members of the Uniparty should be shown the door, as well.

Moreover, we cannot allow a single, unelected judge to stay the duly elected president’s hand and obstruct the will of the people to satisfy his own personal agenda … and/or vendetta. This is Banana Republic stuff, a clown show like no other.

But make no mistake, they represent a major danger.  The left is in complete meltdown, screaming insanely to prevent what American's want Trump to do, end the corruption and reign in government, and do something about the 37 trillion dollars of national debt, which represents a death knell to the nation if left unchecked.   

Why would any sane person oppose that?  Because the Democrats aren't sane, they're greedy, corrupt, power hungry, and they realize if the public becomes aware of what they've been up to for all these years that's the end of the Democrat party.

It's time for conservatives to challenge the overreach of the federal judiciary.  Where there's clear abuse, as we've seen in the Engelmayer decision, it's my view Trump needs to take the view, they made their decisions, now let them enforce them.  

As for impeaching these misfits, in all of American history there only been 15 judges who were impeached, and only eight were convicted.  Conviction is impossible now.  The real answer is a constitution amendment to end life time appointments to the federal judiciary, one of the biggest mistakes made by the founding fathers, and what were seeing right now is what many of the founders warned against from the beginning.  

As for right now what the Senate can do is start hearings regarding the overreach and abuses of the federal judiciary.  Force these judges to sit before the Judiciary Committee and explain how they came to their decisions, and show where in the Constitution it gives them authority for those decisions.   Remember, the Constitution gives the Congress the authority to determine the jurisdiction of the federal judiciary, and it's long overdue they exercised it, and if contempt of Congress charges are necessary for compliance, then so be it.   It's time to rattle cages, as there may never be another opportunity. 

Lawfare 2.0: A New York judge launches a coup -During his campaign, Donald Trump promised to use Elon Musk to improve government efficiency, partly by ending the incredible graft and corruption permeating the bureaucracy. Since Trump’s inauguration, Musk and his youthful four-man crew, using the power of AI, have identified a host of fundamental problems in the Treasury Dept. As Musk explained:.............There can be no justifiable reason for any American to contest these actions. Nevertheless, on Feb. 8, a federal district court judge, Paul Engelmayer, sitting in the Southern District of New York, committed the most grotesque act of lawfare this nation has yet seen.......If allowed to stand, Judge Engelmayer’s order will amend our Constitution by fiat. This is as great an assault on the fabric of our constitutional Republic as our nation has seen since 1776......Trump’s response must be aggressive and resolute. To vindicate the Constitution, he must declare that the judge’s order is null and void, and he should send a message to the House asking it to impeach Judge Engelmayer...........

Trump Administration Files Emergency Motion to Vacate Treasury’s Restraining Order — Asserts ‘No Court Can Sever Presidential Supervision Mandated by Article II’ - The Trump administration has filed an emergency motion to vacate an ex parte temporary restraining order issued by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. This order egregiously interferes with the executive branch’s operations by limiting access to crucial Treasury Department systems.  On Saturday, Obama appointee Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued an ex parte temporary restraining order that restricted access to Treasury systems exclusively to “civil servants,” explicitly excluding “all political appointees” from accessing these systems...........

The Greatest Heist of All Time: The Level of Corruption That Elon Musk and His DOGE Team Are Uncovering Is Absolutely Mind Blowing —Did you know that approximately $1,000,000,000 in obviously fraudulent payments flow through the U.S. Treasury’s payment system every week?  Until Elon Musk and his DOGE team stepped in, nobody in the government was doing anything about this theft.  Please read all the way to the end of this article for the details.  Suspiciously, the Democrats are desperately trying to get the courts to keep Elon Musk and his team out of the U.S. Treasury’s payment system.  Why is that?  What are they working so hard to hide............?

Court Grants Request to Keep Venezuelan Illegals from Being Sent to Guantanamo - A federal court on Sunday blocked the Trump administration from sending three Venezuelan immigrants held in New Mexico to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba as part of the president’s immigration crackdown..............The Tren de Aragua gang originated in a lawless prison in the central Venezuelan state of Aragua more than a decade ago and has expanded in recent years as millions of desperate Venezuelans fled President President Nicolás Maduro ‘s rule and migrated to other parts of Latin America or the U.S............

 Federal Judge Indefinitely Blocks Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Executive Order - A third federal judge has blocked Trump birthright citizenship executive order.  US District Judge Joseph Laplante, a George W. Bush appointee, granted a preliminary injunction and indefinitely blocked Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order.  The injunction was in response to a lawsuit filed by New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support, LULAC and Make the Road New York, CBS News reported.  The judge did not give a reason for the temporary injunction and said he will issue a decision on Tuesday..........

JUST IN: Rogue Judge Blocking Trump Agenda Exposed As Democrat Megadonor - New revelations show that a federal judge responsible for blocking key Trump administration policies is a longtime Democratic mega-donor. Judge John J. McConnell Jr., appointed by former President Barack Obama, has a history of contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic campaigns and political action committees............... His decision grants a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the administration’s effort to halt federal disbursements. The case, brought by a coalition of Democratic-led states, challenged Trump’s executive order aimed at reviewing federal spending for inefficiencies..............

My Take - This is the perfect time to tell a federal judge you made the ruling, now try to enforce it.   The administration will not comply, and will not tolerate any criminal contempt charges, and that he's clearly guilty of sedition, and will be arrested if he attempts to enforce it.  RK  

 

NY Court Considers Law that Would Allow 800,000 Non-Citizens to Vote - A staggering 800,000 non-citizens could reportedly be voting soon in New York City elections, as a court is considering legislation this week that would allow them to register to vote ahead of the city’s elections. A top New York court is set to hear arguments regarding the matter on Tuesday, according to a report by Politico. This comes after an appellate court struck down Democrats’ efforts to permit non-citizens to vote last year.....

 

My Take - While this isn't a federal issue, it certainly is a judicial issue demonstrating the corruption of America's law schools, and this requires a federal law ending this nonsense, with the proviso it can't be reviewed by the courts, which the Congress has done in the past since it's the Congress who decides the jurisdiction of the federal judiciary, and if it would be federal law local courts couldn't intervene. RK   

 

The Activist Judges Blocking President Trump’s Agenda Will NOT Prevail - It's understandable to get frustrated that all of these low-level judges can hold the White House hostage, but they're just delaying the inevitable.  Ever since the slew of decisions started dropping by activist leftist judges trying to tell President Trump what he's not allowed to do as President of the United States, we've witnessed patriots expressing outrage, fear, and frustration. There's no need for any of that............First, no one should be surprised by any of this. The administration certainly isn’t. We always knew exactly what they would do. Do not take the fact they are not screaming and yelling as them rolling over. They are not rolling over. There’s plenty going on behind the scenes as administration lawyers prepare their papers for the legal fight to come....

 

The Judicial Coup Against Trump - There is no way to make meaningful reforms without challenging judicial supremacism.   Dems and their media have been shouting about a “constitutional crisis” for two weeks now. If you believe Rep. Jared Huffman, it’s even the worst constitutional crisis since the Civil War. But the actual constitutional crisis is once again proving to be a judicial coup. Democrat federal judges have blocked lawful moves by the Trump administration under various technical pretexts with the aim of upending legal presidential authority. ........... This isn’t just limited to broader national policies, like NIH funding caps, but the management of the federal government, including removing political appointees and reassigning federal employees, offering them buyouts, pausing the appropriations process and ending relationships with contractors.   All of these are under the purview of the executive branch until federal judges decided to step in..........The judicial coup returns us to the fundamental question of who runs the government: elected or unelected officials, by way of the question of what powers the judiciary has and what powers it does not have........