Category: Observation O’ The Day

The Only “Constitutional Crisis” is That Democrats Lost, Now They’re Trying To Govern from the Courtroom

My Hot Take on Democat Lawfare: “There is no constitutional crisis other than the Democrats lost. They are trying to create a constitutional crisis by having the judiciary and the federal district courts assume control of the executive branch.”

Democrats have launched a pre-planned, well-organized lawfare campaign against the Trump administration.

The NY Times reported in late November 2024 on the massive effort which was two-years in the making and in the immediate post-election period focused heavily on finding plaintiffs and lining up legal groups to challenge expected Trump policies:

More than 800 lawyers at 280 organizations have begun developing cases and workshopping specific challenges to what the group has identified as 600 “priority legal threats” — potential regulations, laws and other administrative actions that could require a legal response, its leaders said. The project, called Democracy 2025, aims to be a hub of opposition to the new Trump administration….

Democracy Forward has spent the last two years working to identify the possible actions the new Trump administration could take on issues they see as key priorities to defend, the group’s leaders said, using as a blueprint Mr. Trump’s first-term actions, his campaign promises and plans released by his allies, including the Heritage Foundation and its Project 2025 agenda….

The flotilla of lawyers is preparing to challenge new regulations released by the Trump administration, even beginning the process of recruiting potential plaintiffs who would have legal standing in court.

We have seen the fruits of the lawfare planning in the opening three weeks of the Trump administration, with several dozen lawsuits filed, and many (not all) district court judges willing at least to grant temporary restraining orders, incuding one ex parte TRO issued by an emergency duty judge at 1 a.m. last Saturday morning that by its terms removed political appointee control of Treasury payment systems. (That TRO was scaled back by the judge permanently assigned to the case, and is under review by her in a ruling expected soon.) It may be that the short-term TROs are not extended to longer-term preliminary injunctions, and if that happens the “crisis” may solve itself, but I’m not hopeful.

Here is my ‘hot take’ on how the lawfare, not the Trump administration, is creating the real ‘constitutional crisis’. This is a short excerpt from my much longer (almost 20 minute) explanation as part of the podcast we just posted.

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So it’s now obvious, SCOTUS woman judges, even supposedly ‘conservative ones’ are problematic when it comes to goobermint power.
Roberts is just his squishy self.

Supreme Court Rules Against Trump’s Bid to Stop $2 Billion in USAID Funding.

On Wednesday morning, in a 5-4 emergency decision, the Supreme Court upheld a decision from U.S. District Judge Amir Ali that essentially says that Donald Trump can’t withhold $2 billion in USAID money from existing contractors. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett sided with the three liberal members of the court. From the ruling:

On February 13, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia entered a temporary restraining order enjoining the Government from enforcing directives pausing disbursements of foreign development assistance funds. The present application does not challenge the Government’s obligation to follow that order.

On February 25, the District Court ordered the Government to issue payments for a portion of the paused disbursements—those owed for work already completed before the issuance of the District Court’s temporary restraining order—by 11:59 p.m. on February 26.

Several hours before that deadline, the Government filed this application to vacate the District Court’s February 25 order and requested an immediate administrative stay. THE CHIEF JUSTICE entered an administrative stay shortly before the 11:59 p.m. deadline and subsequently referred the application to the Court. The application is denied.

Given that the deadline in the challenged order has now passed, and in light of the ongoing preliminary injunction proceedings, the District Court should clarify what obligations the Government must fulfill to ensure compliance with the temporary restraining order, with due regard for the feasibility of any compliance timelines. The order heretofore entered by THE CHIEF JUSTICE is vacated.

Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh voted in favor of Trump, with Justice Alito writing the lengthy dissent that begins with:

Does a single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the Government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) 2 billion taxpayer dollars? The answer to that question should be an emphatic ‘No,’ but a majority of this Court apparently thinks otherwise. I am stunned.

So, what exactly does this mean? Judge Ali, who was appointed by the Biden administration, ruled that the Trump administration must maintain USAID agreements that were in place before Trump officially took office on January 20. According to The Hill, Ali “found the Trump administration wasn’t complying with his order to resume the unpaid USAID contracts and grants. Last week, Ali demanded the funds be released by the end of the following day.”

Red State’s Susie Moore writes, “SCOTUS temporarily paused that order, but now, since the deadline is past (and moot), rather than vacate it altogether, they’re lifting the pause and sending things back to the district court to sort out further.”

According to NBC, “Specific projects affected by the payment freeze include the installation of new irrigation and water pumping stations in Ukraine; waterworks upgrades in Lagos, Nigeria; the supply of medical equipment in Vietnam and Nepal; and measures to combat malaria in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and Ethiopia.”

While it’s not great news for Trump, as Moore says, “This isn’t the end of the story on this case — not by a long shot.”

Aesthetica
Talked to a friend who has connections within the Democratic Party and he said the level of panic over Trump and Elon shutting down USAID is unlike anything he’s ever seen. By following the money DOGE has struck a killing blow to the heart of the Democrat deep state machine.
Direct quote: “This is worse than 9/11 for Democrats. USAID is the primary vessel they use to achieve their political agenda. USAID is and always has been the primary source of funding for their influence peddling schemes and for their indirect sources of income”
Another text “Based on the reactions from within the party it seems to me that dismantling USAID is Trump’s biggest political victory to date, it was his enemy’s golden goose”
Same source who told me during the campaign (well before it was made public) that Kamala’s internal polling had her behind Trump so his information is good.
Another important addition. He said initial plans by the Democrats is to have their people at USAID hide the partisan funding under “unimpeachable initiatives”. “They will push back really hard on certain line items that on their face look like reasonable USAID expenditures and hide their political spending under these programs” @Elon Musk Looks like the whole thing needs to be thrown out to avoid this from happening.
More: “Another likely solution for Democrats which they already use to reward VIPs is to use NGOs as an intermediary to direct funds where they want them to go” So basically USAID allocates funds for a certain initiative that looks reasonable. Democrat friendly NGO is contracted to carry out initiative. NGO #1 subcontracts “VIP” which is another NGO owned/operated by a political ally or Democrat politician. Eventually the funds reach the secret intended target and the original problem is not solved. This means they can continue to rinse and repeat this grift.
“If Trump/Elon want this to stick they need to completely shut down USAID or fire the entire staff, the party has instructed their allies to not make waves and blend in. USAID is 99% Democrats they will not be able to save it without risking internal sabotage.”

Observation O’ The Day:
We still don’t know exactly what caused Wednesday night’s fatal collision. But making it a priority to hire people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities for life-and-death positions is going to result in tragedy sooner rather than later.

FLASHBACK:
FAA’s diversity push includes focus on hiring people with ‘severe intellectual’ and ‘psychiatric’ disabilities.

Published January 14, ⇒2024⇐

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is actively recruiting workers who suffer “severe intellectual” disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website.

“Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the Federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring,” the FAA’s website states. “They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism.”

The initiative is part of the FAA’s “Diversity and Inclusion” hiring plan, which says “diversity is integral to achieving FAA’s mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel across our nation and beyond.” The FAA’s website shows the agency’s guidelines on diversity hiring were last updated on March 23, 2022.

The FAA, which is overseen by Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s Department of Transportation, is a government agency charged with regulating civil aviation and employs roughly 45,000 people.

All eyes have been on the FAA and airline industry in recent days after a plug door on a Boeing 737 Max 9 blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5. The FAA grounded all 737 MAX 9 planes after the incident and is carrying out “extensive inspection” and maintenance work.

The FAA added it would increase its oversight of Boeing in the wake of the incident, including auditing Boeing’s 737 Max 9 jetliner production line and companies that supply parts to the airline manufacturer.

Following the incident, social media commenters and public figures have said that airlines and airline manufacturers’ emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives has made flying less safe.

“Do you want to fly in an airplane where they prioritized DEI hiring over your safety?” tech billionaire Elon Musk wrote on X last week. “That is actually happening.”

Critics of such commentary have pushed back on the argument that prioritizing DEI has made traveling less safe, with civil rights groups slamming Musk, for example, for the “abhorrent and pathetic” tweet.

On the FAA’s website, the agency states that people with “severe” mental and physical disabilities are the most underrepresented segment of the federal workforce.

FAA hiring page

“Because diversity is so critical, FAA actively supports and engages in a variety of associations, programs, coalitions and initiatives to support and accommodate employees from diverse communities and backgrounds. Our people are our strength, and we take great care in investing in and valuing them as such,” the FAA reads.

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