…#Trump does not have the authority to fire #JeromePowell, except for "cause," meaning some kind of bad behavior. #SCOTUS precedent supports that view. But the White House has signaled a willingness to test that standard, firing board members of other #independent #FederalAgencies.
Powell said on Wednesday that lawmakers from both parties have generally defended the #Fed's ability to set interest rate policy without interference.
#4thCircuit clears the way for #Trump to fire #FederalWorkers again
In a win for Trump, a panel of judges on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated a lower court ruling ordering 20 #FederalAgencies to reinstate tens of thousands of employees they had fired.
#law #TrumpPurge #TrumpCoup #Musk #DOGE #Project2025
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/09/nx-s1-5357415/trump-federal-probationary-employees-firings
The changes come a week after a supervisor in the tower was arrested & accused of punching another controller in the face over a minor dispute about work, & they follow efforts by the #FAA to reduce #stress among staff still grappling with January’s catastrophic midair collision of a passenger plane & a military helicopter.
Things are bad when…
3 air traffic control [#ATC] managers w/responsibility for Reagan National Airport [#DCA] have been pushed out of their roles in the wake of a #violent altercation in the tower, the #FAA confirmed Tues.
“We brought in a new DCA management team to ensure strong support for the workforce,” an FAA spox said in an email, using the three-letter airport code for the airport.
#safety #FederalAgencies #Trump #Musk #DOGE #layoffs
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/04/08/reagan-airport-fight-faa/
A federal appeals court blocked #Trump from removing #Democratic members from 2 federal #labor boards on Monday, setting aside its earlier ruling.
The decision by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit further complicates a pair of cases that are emerging as key tests of Trump's efforts to bring under his control #FederalAgencies meant to be #independent from the White House.
#law #labor #AbuseOfPower #tyranny #autocracy #authoritarianism
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-appeals-court-blocks-trump-removing-democrats-labor-boards-2025-04-07/
Freezing the grant money “will inflict significant harm on grantees — a fact that the Government barely contests. Worse still, the Government does not even deign to defend the lawfulness of its actions,” wrote Jackson, who was joined by Sotomayor.
#Trump ofcls have turned to #SCOTUS multiple times in recent weeks after lower court judges stymied their initiatives to halt federal #funding, reshape #immigration enforcement & dismantle #FederalAgencies.
It's not the 1970s, #JeromePowell stresses [we’ll see]
We face risks for higher #unemployment, higher #inflation, that's difficult for a central bank
Powell also said:
Fed #independence on monetary policy is critical, to keep it should not get involved in other issues. [Trump also has expressed interest in making the Fed much less independent as he has done to other #FederalAgencies]
Earlier Friday, #Trump said it would be the "perfect" time for the Fed to lower interest rates.
Nonprofits challenging the February mass-firing of #FederalWorkers urged #SCOTUS Thurs to leave in place a federal judge’s order that would require the #Trump admin to reinstate 16k fired employees from 6 #FederalAgencies.
#law #Musk #DOGE #AbuseOfPower
https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/04/nonprofits-urge-justices-to-leave-judges-reinstatement-of-federal-employees-in-place/
The #DOGE staffer who resigned from his post over old #racist tweets — & who broke data-sharing rules, an audit found — has been rehired to work w/sensitive data at several #FederalAgencies.
The staffer is #MarkoElez, a Dept of #Labor employee detailed to the DOGE entity within the #Trump WH, acc/to a Saturday court filing. It says the Labor Dept is aware of 4 other agencies, including #HHS, where Elez is also detailed or employed.
#law #privacy #NationalSecurity #USpol
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/31/nx-s1-5345708/doge-data-access-labor-cfpb-hhs
#DOGE wants businesses to run #US #government services ‘as much as possible’
#ElonMusk’s effort is pushing #privatization — a longtime goal for #Republicans & for #SiliconValley alike — across #FederalAgencies
#Mail delivery. Federal #RealEstate. #ForeignAid grants. The #Trump admin is moving to privatize a sweeping number of govt functions & assets….
#RichGetRicher #Plutocracy #Corporations #Kleptocracy #Oligarchy #USpol #law
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/03/30/doge-privatize-government-usps-trump/
He says he's witnessing "something big"
Da has followed the #Trump admin's firing of many US #FederalWorkers & its dismantling of #FederalAgencies. As a past visitor to Washington, he knows people who have been fired.
"Having said that," he added, "I don't want to be too critical to the Trump administration just from this personal level. As a scholar, I try to be neutral. I think there is something big happening in the #US. It could be bad. It could be good."
Whoa, yesterday, #Trump illegally stripped #CollectiveBargaining rights from hundreds of thousands of #FederalWorkers in 18 different departments across multiple #FederalAgencies.
The admin stated that “Certain Federal unions have declared *#war* on President Trump’s agenda.”
Is he going to use #wartime powers against #union members now?
#law #LaborLaw #labor #Musk #DOGE #authoritarianism #autocracy #tyranny #propaganda #Trumpaganda #gaslighting #NaziState #MafiaState
https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/03/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-exempts-agencies-with-national-security-missions-from-federal-collective-bargaining-requirements/
…As recently as Thurs, WH press sec Karoline Leavitt had assured reporters that, "when it comes to #StudentLoans & #PellGrants, those will still be run out of the Dept of #Education."
After announcing these potential changes to the federal student loan portfolio, #Trump then said, "Bobby Kennedy, the Health &Human Services [secretary], will be handling special needs," referring to #RFKJr. [
]
Multiple sources at #FSA who could not speak publicly for fear of #retribution said they were blindsided by the news.
Logistical challenges aside, the role of the office of Federal #Student #Aid as the administrator of the #StudentLoan portfolio is protected by #law. It's not clear how these responsibilities could be #legally moved w/o a vote of #Congress. [not that #Trump cares]
Student loans, #SpecialEducation to move out of #Education Dept
#Trump continued his push to unwind the US Dept of Education, announcing that the management of the entire federal #StudentLoan portfolio & of the dept's "special needs" programs would be moved to other #FederalAgencies immediately.
#USpol #corruption #law #regulation #PublicIntegrity #kleptocracy
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/21/nx-s1-5336330/trump-education-department-student-loans-special-education-fsa
More on #IMLS shutdown:
On March 14, 2025,… #Trump …issued an #EO that called for the dismantling of 7 #FederalAgencies…. They ranged from the #USAGM, which oversees #VOA, to the #MBDA.
The Institute of #Museum & #Library Services was also on the list. #Congress created the IMLS in 1996 through the Museum & Library Services Act. The #law merged the Inst of Museum Services, which was established in 1976, w/the Library Prgms Office of the Dept of #Education.
#USpol
https://theconversation.com/trump-administration-seeks-to-starve-libraries-and-museums-of-funding-by-shuttering-this-little-known-agency-252455
Judge Howell added she was particularly concerned about the success of the plaintiff’s likelihood of success, particularly because they had sued in their official capacities even though they had been removed.
#USIP sued the #Trump admin after members of #ElonMusk’s #DOGE effectively executed a physical takeover of USIP HQ earlier this week.
Joseph Rillotta, a senior #IRS lawyer, wrote that “no one” at the IRS had taken into account the performance of the probationary workers set to be fired. Rillotta urged that the language be struck from the draft termination letter.
If the falsehood wasn’t removed, Rillotta said he would file a report w/the #InspectorGeneral for the IRS.
Emails Reveal Top #IRS Lawyer Warned #Trump Firings Were a #Fraud on the Courts
The Trump admin cited “performance” failures to justify its #MassFiring of IRS workers. But this claim was “false,” a senior agency attorney warned officials, because the admin had not conducted any such performance assessment.
#FactCheck #TrumpLies #law #DOGE #Musk #TrumpPurge #Congress #PowerOfThePurse #FederalAgencies #SeparationOfPowers #judiciary #ConstitutionalCrisis #authoritarianism
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-irs-firings-doge-fraud-law-job-performance
US Dist Judge James Bredar… last week ordered the mass reinstatement of fired probationary workers at 18 #FederalAgencies after determining the govt’s claims its terminations stemmed from “performance” issues “isn’t true.”
More than a dozen declarations filed by the govt Mon night indicate the #Trump admin has moved to reinstate >24k federal probationary employees. The filings provide the clearest look yet at the sweeping terminations.
#law
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69714275/52/1/state-of-maryland-v-united-states-department-of-agriculture/
