Author Topic: Judge blocks DOGE access to Treasury data after NY AG Letitia James leads blue states in lawsuit  (Read 2770 times)

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Online mystery-ak

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Judge blocks DOGE access to Treasury data after NY AG Letitia James leads blue states in lawsuit
February 8, 2025 | Vivek Saxena

Nineteen Democrat attorneys general led by wildly leftist New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the Trump administration on Friday demanding the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) be denied access to Treasury Department records.

U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer, an Obama appointee, was quick to act on the lawsuit, blocking DOGE early Saturday from accessing Treasury records that contain sensitive personal data such as Social Security and bank account numbers for millions of Americans, NPR reported.

The suit was filed specifically by the Democrat AGs of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.


https://twitter.com/NewYorkStateAG/status/1888015007947870317

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https://www.bizpacreview.com/2025/02/08/judge-blocks-doge-access-to-treasury-data-after-ny-ag-letitia-james-leads-blue-states-in-lawsuit-1521493/
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Offline bilo

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They can slow DOGE down for awhile, but they can't stop them. The Chief Executive runs the executive branch and if he wants to audit dept.'s to see where the mismanagement is he has every right to do so. If the argument the obstructors are making is the auditors don't have security clearance to do their jobs the POTUS can give it to them.

The Rats are so insane they don't even realize they are cementing their image as the party of BIG GOVERNMENT in the minds of the public.
We have a beach head. Now it's time to win the war and save the Republic.

Offline Hoodat

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Nineteen Democrat attorneys general led by wildly leftist New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the Trump administration on Friday demanding the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) be denied access to Treasury Department records.

But . . . but they don't have standing.  This is a Federal matter, not a State matter.  There is no State law that decides access to Federal Treasury records.
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Offline Smokin Joe

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If I can walk into a bank and thy ask for 'the last 4 of my social' to identify me, I'd say that cat is well out of the bag. How would they know?

Sure, the number is tied to my account, but the average teller?

Tracking where the OUR money went is how the networks feeding the Left are and will continue to be exposed. The left has quit reeling in shock and is beginning to regroup. The deep state will dig in in the courts and the 'trench war' will begin for America. Hopefully, enough of their funding apparatus (on our dime) has been exposed to cripple their efforts to prevent disclosure of their perfidy.

Yes, a lot of low level functionaries are going to be collateral damage. People who just went to work and processed this form or that report will lose jobs. But when you cut out a cancer, you take a margin of healthy tissue around it to make sure you got it all. In the long run, America will be better off. The whole 8 month buyout was a way to let those folks down gently and give them time to find a new job if they have the sense to see what's coming and to take advantage of the deal.
So much has changed in my industry (oil exploration) that there have been a few opportunities to shift job emphasis over the years that led to dead ends. Jobs once commonplace disappeared rapidly with innovation, and that continues. The trick is to read the writing on the wall, and act appropriately. Not moving 'up' can be to your advantage.

When the last of those let go leaves, someone will still be there, emptying the trash cans, scrubbing the floors and bathrooms, and doing general maintenance...(doing the essential jobs).
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Offline Free Vulcan

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But . . . but they don't have standing.  This is a Federal matter, not a State matter.  There is no State law that decides access to Federal Treasury records.

Exactly. And don't we also have an agreement with another court that designates who can go thru the files?
The Republic is lost.

Online mountaineer

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Tom Cotton
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Outrageous. Obama Judge Paul Engelmayer didn’t just bar @elonmusk and @doge from Treasury systems, he barred the Secretary of the Treasury himself. Without citing a single law or even allowing Trump admin to appear in court! This outlaw should be reversed immediately and Engelmayer should be forbidden by higher courts from ever hearing another case against the Trump admin.
 https://wsj.com/us-news/law/federal-judge-blocks-elon-musks-doge-from-treasury-system-e0f1e55c?st=QQJrvW&reflink=article_imessage_share
4:12 PM · Feb 8, 2025
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Offline rustynail

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How will they enforce this ruling?

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 February 8, 2025 3:43pm EST | Updated February 8, 2025 4:49pm EST
Federal judge blocks Elon Musk's DOGE from accessing Treasury records after Democratic AGs file lawsuit
Elon Musk called the judge's decision 'absolutely insane'

By Andrea Margolis FOXBusiness


Tesla CEO Elon Musk's government efficiency team has been temporarily blocked from accessing certain government systems, according to a federal judge's ruling on Saturday.

U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer issued the ruling after a group of attorneys general sued Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on Friday, arguing that the presidential commission does not have the right to access U.S. Department of Treasury systems.

The order was condemned by Musk, who called the decision "absolutely insane" in an X post and accused Engelmayer of being "an activist posing as a judge."

"How on Earth are we supposed to stop fraud and waste of taxpayer money without looking at how money is spent?" Musk said on Saturday.

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https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/federal-judge-blocks-elon-musks-doge-from-accessing-treasury-records-after-democratic-ags-file-lawsuit
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Offline The_Reader_David

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This is an annoyance.  The appeal should be filed not by anyone in DOGE, but by the Secretary of the Treasury and the President of the United States.  Once this judge is slapped down law suits of this sort will dry up.
And when they behead your own people in the wars which are to come, then you will know what this was all about.

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LangleyPizzaDelivery
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The same people crying about Elon right now were very quiet when the same career bureaucrats failed at their job and allowed massive Social Security data breach under Biden's watch.
In fact, they memory-holed that whole story.
Story at USA Today
10:02 PM · Feb 8, 2025

Tracy Shuchart (𝒞𝒽𝒾 )
@chigrl
You all worried a billionaire has read only access to your personal info. on the US treasury site?
Did you know that you literally give all your personal data to GOOG, META, AMZN, TicTok every day on every post.
Some of you just accept terms without looking at what this means.
You accept them having access to your entire phone basically
8:21 PM · Feb 8, 2025

Keith Gross
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A judge has no Constitutional authority to ban an Executive Branch appointee from accessing anything in an Executive Branch agency.
The President is the head of the branch. The judge has no power over that plenary Constitutional authority.
Defy the orders. Impeach the judge.
6:05 PM · Feb 8, 2025

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LAWFARE: In an egregious and unconstitutional assault on executive authority, Judge Paul Engelmayer has unilaterally forbidden all of Trump's political appointees—including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent—from accessing Treasury Department data. This ruling, concocted without legal precedent or constitutional justification, is nothing short of judicial sabotage. Worse, it was issued ex parte—meaning Trump administration lawyers weren’t given notice, weren’t allowed to argue, and weren’t even in the room. Only Democrat attorneys general were heard, ensuring a predetermined outcome.

Engelmayer’s order is legally indefensible. He cites no statutory basis because none exists. He offers no constitutional rationale because the Constitution directly contradicts him. Instead, he fabricates a fiction: that the duly appointed Treasury Secretary is nothing more than a ceremonial figurehead, akin to a powerless monarch, while unelected bureaucrats—who answer to no voters—control the nation’s finances. This is judicial tyranny masquerading as jurisprudence.

The implications are staggering. By stripping the executive branch of access to its own financial data, this ruling effectively transfers control of the federal purse to the permanent bureaucracy—the so-called “deep state.” That is a direct assault on the Constitution’s separation of powers, which vests executive authority in the elected President and his appointees, not in career government employees.

This is lawfare at its most brazen: a raw, partisan power grab dressed up in legalese. If allowed to stand, this decision sets the precedent that any left-wing judge can unilaterally strip the President of his authority and hand it to the administrative state. That is not democracy. It is not law. It is judicial dictatorship.

While the order is currently set to last only a week, no serious person believes this won’t be extended if the courts think they can get away with it. The Trump Administration should treat this for what it is—an unconstitutional usurpation—and consider defying it outright. No judge has the authority to cripple the executive branch and hand power to unelected bureaucrats.

Beyond that, the Supreme Court must intervene and overturn this blatant violation of constitutional governance. Judge Engelmayer should be barred from hearing any future cases related to executive authority, and every Democrat lawyer who enabled this attack on the Constitution should be sanctioned.

This is not a legal dispute—it is a coup by the judiciary against the elected government. And it cannot be allowed to stand.
Federal Judge Paul Engelmayer ordered that President Trump and each of his appointees were forbidden from accessing Treasury Department data without even allowing the president’s lawyers to appear or comment.
2:34 PM · Feb 8, 2025
“All Democrats are not horse thieves, but all horse thieves are Democrats.”—Horace Greeley, 1872

Offline Free Vulcan

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There's already a court agreement where two designated individuals allowed access to Treasury files. I'd simply follow that court and ignore this one.
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Why is everyone acting like this judge's ruling can't be appealed in a higher court?  The ruling clearly fails on several levels, and yet everyone seems to think that Pres. Trump's only possible reactions are to comply with the order, or defy it. 

Go to the appeals court for the district this judge serves in on Monday morning and file an appeal. If the appeal isn't upheld, take it to the Supreme Court. Only if the Supreme Court fails to overturn the ruling (they won't) does the option narrow down to comply or defy.
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Offline Kamaji

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Why is everyone acting like this judge's ruling can't be appealed in a higher court?  The ruling clearly fails on several levels, and yet everyone seems to think that Pres. Trump's only possible reactions are to comply with the order, or defy it. 

Go to the appeals court for the district this judge serves in on Monday morning and file an appeal. If the appeal isn't upheld, take it to the Supreme Court. Only if the Supreme Court fails to overturn the ruling (they won't) does the option narrow down to comply or defy.

:thumbsup:

Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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Why is everyone acting like this judge's ruling can't be appealed in a higher court?  The ruling clearly fails on several levels, and yet everyone seems to think that Pres. Trump's only possible reactions are to comply with the order, or defy it. 

Go to the appeals court for the district this judge serves in on Monday morning and file an appeal. If the appeal isn't upheld, take it to the Supreme Court. Only if the Supreme Court fails to overturn the ruling (they won't) does the option narrow down to comply or defy.
One word:  Time

Courts take time.  A lot of time. What you describe if very unlikely to be expedient.

One of the  best attributes of the 'shock and awe' being undertaken is the off-balance of the left and media in combating it.  Many actions taking place simultaneously and quickly.

Read up on military history and one can readily see some of the greatest victories were accomplished by speed, overwhelming the enemy.
“You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.” Thomas Sowell

Offline Ghost Bear

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One word:  Time

Courts take time.  A lot of time. What you describe if very unlikely to be expedient.

One of the  best attributes of the 'shock and awe' being undertaken is the off-balance of the left and media in combating it.  Many actions taking place simultaneously and quickly.

Read up on military history and one can readily see some of the greatest victories were accomplished by speed, overwhelming the enemy.

While I agree with you that the "shock and awe" strategy of the Trump administration's first few weeks has worked well so far, and kept the Democrats back on their heels, the administration can do both: continue with DOGE's audit, while also filing in court to overturn the judge's ruling. Filing to overturn the judge's ruling will not only counter the Democrat's efforts to make this look like some kind of a rogue, non-governmental operation, it may also fend off future attempts to stop DOGE in the courts.
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Offline Kamaji

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One word:  Time

Courts take time.  A lot of time. What you describe if very unlikely to be expedient.

One of the  best attributes of the 'shock and awe' being undertaken is the off-balance of the left and media in combating it.  Many actions taking place simultaneously and quickly.

Read up on military history and one can readily see some of the greatest victories were accomplished by speed, overwhelming the enemy.

So, because we are unhappy with the pace of the judicial system - which, btw, the Founders intentionally designed to be a thorn in the sides of both the legislative and the executive - we're just going to ignore the process and do whatever the hell we want, and the courts be damned?

Or, in other words, because we're impatient we become the worst of the liberals we criticize?

Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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While I agree with you that the "shock and awe" strategy of the Trump administration's first few weeks has worked well so far, and kept the Democrats back on their heels, the administration can do both: continue with DOGE's audit, while also filing in court to overturn the judge's ruling. Filing to overturn the judge's ruling will not only counter the Democrat's efforts to make this look like some kind of a rogue, non-governmental operation, it may also fend off future attempts to stop DOGE in the courts.
No one said not to also appeal this,

You just seemed to infer it is no big deal.  It is, due to Time and keeping the opposition offbalance
“You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.” Thomas Sowell

Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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So, because we are unhappy with the pace of the judicial system - which, btw, the Founders intentionally designed to be a thorn in the sides of both the legislative and the executive - we're just going to ignore the process and do whatever the hell we want, and the courts be damned?

Or, in other words, because we're impatient we become the worst of the liberals we criticize?
Where did you get that garbage?

Did I say anything about not appealing?
“You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.” Thomas Sowell

Offline Kamaji

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Where did you get that garbage?

Did I say anything about not appealing?

Ah, yes, playing the literalist card - one of the last refuges of the incompetent.  I didn't actually say X, Y, or Z.  Yes, actually, you most definitely implied that "shock and awe" required ignoring the process for the sake of pursuing one's political agenda.

Offline Ghost Bear

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No one said not to also appeal this,

You just seemed to infer it is no big deal.  It is, due to Time and keeping the opposition offbalance

You're mentioning only the slowness of the courts seemed to imply you did not think the effort of filing an appeal would be worthwhile.

And yes, I do not think it would be a big deal; when filing the appeal, they can also ask for an injunction blocking enforcement of the judge's ruling, on the grounds that the ruling would give employees at Treasury time to destroy or falsify records. Getting the Justice Department involved would also ratchet up the pressure on the Democrats by implying that lawbreaking is suspected.

Turns out that I have read some military history. Pressing a fast attack is a good strategy, but so is attacking on multiple fronts.
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Judge's 'hopelessly ambiguous' order barring DOGE from Treasury sparks concern Bessent may also be locked out
Opinion by Emma Colton • 14h

No question DOGE will uncover waste, fraud, abuse during Medicare audit: Dr. Marc Siegel
 
A federal judge's order barring DOGE from accessing Treasury Department data is vague enough that some legal experts believe it even blocks the agency's secretary from reviewing records and systems, prompting Republicans to blast what they consider judicial overreach.

U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York Paul Engelmayer, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, issued a temporary restraining order Saturday that sided with 19 Democratic state attorneys general who claimed that giving DOGE "full access" to the Treasury’s payment systems violates the law. The lawsuit was spearheaded by New York Attorney General Letitia James, a longtime Trump foe who said her office is "prepared to fight back" after President Donald Trump's November election win.
 
"The judge’s order is rightly being attacked as, at worse, barring the secretary of the Treasury from accessing the Treasury Department’s databases and at best, at being hopelessly ambiguous and confusing," the Federalist's senior legal correspondent Margot Cleveland told Fox News Digital on Sunday of the order.

The judge's sweeping order, issued Saturday, bars DOGE from accessing the Treasury system until at least Feb. 14, when Engelmayer scheduled a hearing to revisit the matter.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/judge-s-hopelessly-ambiguous-order-barring-doge-from-treasury-sparks-concern-bessent-may-also-be-locked-out/ar-AA1yHX26?ocid=widgetonlockscreen&cvid=084b7a11aa754a0c8f1d3ce777164aec&ei=63
The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth.  George Washington - Farewell Address

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Is this article suggesting their is bias in the judiciary and this particular judge is protecting democrats? :whistle:
The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth.  George Washington - Farewell Address

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Trump admin files motion to vacate restraining order prohibiting DOGE access to Treasury payment systems
The Trump Administration is accused of illegally providing DOGE with unauthorized access to the Treasury Department’s payment systems
By Landon Mion Fox News
Published February 10, 2025 5:23am EST

The Trump administration has filed a motion to vacate or modify a court's temporary restraining order blocking the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and political appointees from accessing sensitive Treasury Department payment records.

In the motion, Cloud Software Group, Inc. CEO Tom Krause argued that "it is important that high-level political appointees, such as the Treasury Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Chief of Staff, and Under Secretaries, retain the ability to attend briefings concerning information obtained from the data or systems from Treasury employees with appropriate access to the data or systems in order to perform their job duties."

Although Krause, who was working at Treasury as a special government employee, admitted that "these high-level officials do not ordinarily need to receive access to or review data from such systems," he said an event could conceivably occur that could warrant them needing access.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in a temporary restraining order on Saturday that "political appointees, special government employees and any government employee detailed from an agency outside the Treasury Department access to Treasury Department payment systems or any other data maintained by the Treasury Department containing personally identifiable information."

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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-admin-files-motion-vacate-restraining-order-prohibiting-doge-access-treasury-payment-systems
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Offline Smokin Joe

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Is this article suggesting their is bias in the judiciary and this particular judge is protecting democrats? :whistle:
The standard bearer for this assault is a lawfare prosecutor. All you need to know. Turn the AI loose on her funding...and see where the rodents are.
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis

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RI federal judge says Trump administration violated funding freeze court order

https://www.wpri.com/target-12/ri-federal-judge-says-trump-administration-violated-funding-freeze-court-order/

Quote
A Rhode Island federal judge on Monday found the Trump administration in violation of a court order, telling the new president to “immediately restore frozen funding.”

U.S. District Chief Judge John McConnell granted a “motion for enforcement” of a temporary restraining order, or TRO, he signed last month, blocking President Donald Trump’s freeze of Congress-approved funds across the country.

“The states have presented evidence in this motion that the defendants in some cases have continued to improperly freeze federal funds and refused to resume disbursement of appropriated federal funds,” McConnell wrote in his decision Monday.

“These pauses in funding violate the plain text of the TRO,” he added.

McConnell ordered the federal government to “immediately end any federal funding pause” until he decides on whether to make the order more permanent through a preliminary injunction.

EXCERPT

So, Judge, who's going to be enforcing your blatantly unconstitutional order?
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DOGE team expected to visit federal office in West Virginia this week
by: Joey Rather   
Posted: Feb 10, 2025 / 05:44 PM EST   
Updated: Feb 10, 2025 / 05:46 PM EST   
Quote
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — Following a controversial first few weeks of action, agents from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are expected to visit West Virginia in the coming days amid the agency’s “financial audit” of the U.S. Government.

Sources told nonprofit investigators ProPublica last week that the DOGE team will be dispatched to the U.S. Treasury Department’s building in Parkersburg on Tuesday, with DOGE agents set to gain “read-only” access to the department’s data, including the U.S. Government’s central accounting system.

Parkersburg is home to the U.S. Bureau of Fiscal Services—previously known as Public Debt—which hosts the federal government’s Central Accounting Reporting System (CARS). The U.S. Treasury’s website says that the CARS system serves as “the electronic system of record for the government’s financial data” and handles accounting and reporting for all federal agencies.  ...
https://www.dcnewsnow.com/news/local-news/west-virginia/doge-team-expected-to-visit-federal-office-in-west-virginia-this-week/
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RI federal judge says Trump administration violated funding freeze court order

https://www.wpri.com/target-12/ri-federal-judge-says-trump-administration-violated-funding-freeze-court-order/

EXCERPT

So, Judge, who's going to be enforcing your blatantly unconstitutional order?
The imperial dictator judge has no clothes on.
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Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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Ah, yes, playing the literalist card - one of the last refuges of the incompetent.  I didn't actually say X, Y, or Z.  Yes, actually, you most definitely implied that "shock and awe" required ignoring the process for the sake of pursuing one's political agenda.
Kinda cute saying uncovering fraud, waste and other illegalities are 'pursuing one's political agenda'.

You should be proud of espousing the leftists' talking points, which prioritize process over substance.
“You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.” Thomas Sowell

Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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And now it looks like Trump kicked the judge to the curb so a new judge has been assigned to this case.

Trump Administration Fights Judicial Tyranny
I wrote here about the absurd order issued by a Democratic Party judge that purports to bar the Secretary of the Treasury, along with many others, from accessing the Treasury Department’s data. The judge who issued that ex parte order–that means he issued it without even waiting to hear from the government–was Paul Engelmayer. Engelmayer sits in the Southern District of New York, a venue that has no apparent connection to the Treasury Department’s operations.

The Trump administration has now moved urgently to correct Engelmayer’s error. The linked document is a Memorandum in support of a Motion to Dissolve, Clarify or Modify Engelmayer’s improvidently granted temporary restraining order. The Treasury Department’s lawyers begin by giving Engelmayer a lesson in constitutional law that he shouldn’t need:

At approximately 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 8, 2025, this Court issued an ex parte Temporary Restraining Order that purported to limit access to a vast swath of Treasury systems to only “civil servants,” while prohibiting “all political appointees” from doing the same. On its face, the Order could be read to cover all political leadership within Treasury—including even Secretary Bessent. This is a remarkable intrusion on the Executive Branch that is in direct conflict with Article II of the Constitution, and the unitary structure it provides. There is not and cannot be a basis for distinguishing between “civil servants” and “political appointees.” Basic democratic accountability requires that every executive agency’s work be supervised by politically accountable leadership, who ultimately answer to the President. A federal court, consistent with the separation of powers, cannot insulate any portion of that work from the specter of political accountability. No court can issue an injunction that directly severs the clear line of supervision Article II requires. Because the Order on its face draws an impermissible and anti-constitutional distinction, it should be dissolved immediately.

While incompetent, Judge Engelmayer’s order shows what the Left really believes: the judge and the Democratic Party are on the side of the permanent bureaucracy, democracy–the voters–be damned.

So who is Judge Engelmayer? A reader points out that he a notable pupil of Larry Tribe, the law professor turned far-left internet crank. Tribe credited Engelmayer as one of researchers on the Second Edition of Tribe’s treatise on constitutional law:

Judge Engelmayer had this case just long enough to issue a TRO. It has now been assigned to another judge, Jeannette Vargas, a brand-new Joe Biden appointee.
I have no idea how she will respond to the Treasury Department’s current motion. One hopes she has enough integrity to be embarrassed by what Engelmayer did. But what is going on now, as the Democrats try feverishly to block the Trump administration from carrying out the will of the voters, is politics, not law.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/02/trump-administration-fights-judicial-tyranny.php
« Last Edit: February 12, 2025, 10:02:21 am by IsailedawayfromFR »
“You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.” Thomas Sowell

Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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And here's the timeline of an outlaw judge deciding to become dictator of the US government.  Some here support this as proper way for laws to be judged by our judicial branch.

Timeline: Federal Judge Didn’t Even Read Final Complaint Before Enjoining Trump
By: John A. Lucas
February 13, 2025


At the very least, Judge Paul Engelmayer’s decision should bring on a congressional impeachment inquiry.

New York federal Judge Paul Engelmayer’s temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration’s access to Treasury documents happened so fast it’s unlikely he carefully read the case filings. The filings from the 19 suing Democrat state attorneys generals were so voluminous, and Engelmayer’s order was entered so quickly, that it could not possibly have been the product of reasoned judicial analysis and reflection.  The stench is so bad, questions of possible corruption must be answered.

Engelmayer is the first judge ever to grant a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the president of the United States that also forbids a cabinet secretary from accessing his own records without giving these parties an opportunity to respond. He offered zero analysis of his constitutional authority to make such a radical ruling, the federal rule governing injunctions and temporary restraining orders, or why he is enabling fraud and grift by blocking access to records that show who got government money and for what.

The next court hearing scheduled in this case is Feb. 14. I wrote an earlier article focused on some of the procedural defects in the plaintiff states’ request for a TRO and Engelmayer’s order keeping Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Elon Musk, from investigating federal payments. New information shows the situation was much worse than suggested by my earlier observation that “Engelmayer’s Order was a very rushed, put-up job.”

As I wrote earlier, “After Engelmayer got the States’ Complaint and related filings on Friday night, he wasted no time in ruling on the application for a TRO. In a feat of seeming super-human efficiency and concentration, he must somehow have reviewed and diligently analyzed the 80+ pages of the Complaint and the Memorandum of Law, carefully read at least some of the 100+ court opinions, articles and other sources cited by the Plaintiffs, and concentrated on it all very carefully before entering his unprecedented Order granting the request for a TRO.”

The situation is actually worse than that. Here’s the timeline of the court filings. All these initial documents were filed by New York Special Trial Counsel Colleen Faherty.

Friday, February 7

7:32 p.m. — Faherty sent an email to two government lawyers advising them “of the States [sic] concerns about Defendants’ harmful conduct and the States [sic] intent to seek immediate temporary relief.”

7:39 p.m. — Seven minutes later, Faherty “filed” a 200-plus paragraph, 60-page “Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief,” which included an “emergency” request for a TRO. The court immediately filed it as “Filing Error – Deficient Pleading.”

This was a technical error in the way the complaint was filed in the court’s electronic filing system. Nevertheless, the filing was defective, and Faherty was directed to re-file the complaint.

10:09 p.m. — Faherty filed a “Proposed Order” for the judge to see what she wanted the TRO to say.

10:13 p.m. — The coalition of Democrat attorneys general filed a 40-page legal memorandum in support of the requested TRO. It included more than 27 pages of discussion and citations to 54 court opinions.

10:15 p.m. — The court received an “affirmation of Colleen K. Faherty” that affirmed she had sent the 7:32 p.m. e-mail to the government lawyers.

Saturday, February 8

12:39 a.m. — Judge Engelmayer entered his order granting the TRO.

1:04 a.m. — Faherty e-mailed four items — the complaint, the legal memorandum, her prior affirmation, and the order granting the TRO — to two government lawyers, only one of whom had been a recipient of her 7:32 p.m. email.

1:14 a.m. — The complaint was refiled with the deficiency corrected. Note that a properly filed complaint was not filed until more than a half-hour after Judge Engelmayer had already entered his order.

5:48 p.m. — This is when Faherty’s certification arrived that, at 1:04 a.m., she had emailed the above documents to the government lawyers.

As I pointed out in my initial article, “Anyone attempting to read the suit and materials submitted with it would be faced with a monumental task, even if they had help. The Complaint runs to 200-plus paragraphs in almost 60 pages. In the complaint alone, the plaintiffs cited more than 50 articles and other sources that they thought were of sufficient importance to include in it. It was accompanied by a 40-page legal Memorandum that includes more than 27 pages of discussion, and citations to 54 court opinions.”

The accelerated timeline is simply incredible, especially in view of the voluminous materials that any diligent judge would analyze to render a proper opinion. And I mean “incredible” in its literal sense of “not to be believed.”

The last documents filed in support of the request for a TRO were at 10:13 and 10:15 p.m. These included the legal memorandum with its citation to 54 court opinions. Did Engelmayer read these? Not a chance. Did he read any of them? If he did, you can’t tell it from his order, other than one citation from him to a single case that had no resemblance to the case before him.

Even if Engelmayer had received and began to study these materials immediately after he had them all, he spent less than two-and-one-half hours reviewing and analyzing the materials presented to him before entering his order at 12:39 a.m.

https://thefederalist.com/2025/02/13/timeline-fed-judge-didnt-even-read-final-complaint-before-enjoining-trump/
“You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.” Thomas Sowell