Federal District Judge Tanya Chutkan is reportedly on the brink of issuing a temporary restraining order that could potentially obstruct almost everyone within the Trump administration from accessing data produced by any federal agency or from dismissing any federal or contract workers.
This proposed order is a response to a lawsuit filed by 13 states, including New Mexico, Arizona, Michigan, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. These states allege that "President Trump has violated the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution by creating a new federal Department without Congressional approval and by granting Musk sweeping powers over the entire federal government without seeking the advice and consent of the Senate."
According to RedState, the draft order submitted by the plaintiff states to Judge Chutkan, an Obama appointee, is unconstitutionally broad as it essentially inhibits President Trump from executing his Article II duties: "The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America."
The defendants, Elon Musk, U.S. DOGE Service, U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization, and their agents, officers, and employees, or anyone acting in active concert with them, are temporarily restrained from accessing any data systems and the information and code contained within those systems.
This includes systems containing sensitive or confidential agency and personnel data at various departments such as the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Education, the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Energy, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Commerce.
They are also restrained from terminating, furloughing, or otherwise placing on involuntary leave any officers or employees of the federal government working within any of the Departments and agencies identified.
The government has filed a response dismantling the case by the states and demonstrating how the proposed remedy is divorced not only from the imagined harm but from reality. It asks Chutkan to hold off until Monday and hold a hearing on the issue.
However, dealing with someone who appears to have lost touch with reason may not yield the desired results. No judge has the right to suspend the Constitution. Eventually, this order will be vaporized. It probably won't happen at the hands of the DC Circuit, which is still torqued about their four-year vendetta being summarily dismissed on January 20 but will end up in front of the Supreme Court.
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