Author: condor

In an Hour, USDC Judge Ali In DC Will Likely Adopt The Plaintiffs’ Position, Wholesale, In This Overnight Status Report — USAID To Resume Flowing Immediately.

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The hearing will feature fireworks, to be certain.

Marco Rubio — whatever else he might be — lacks “the gravitas” to defy federal court injunctions. He’s a vain lil’ man. All the while, children are dying of Ebola in Africa — because he is defying the law of the land. That is a simple fact now. Here’s the joint status report for the morning’s hearing, and a bit of the juicy part:

…Far from taking meaningful steps toward compliance, Defendants have instead continued to erect barriers to compliance with their payment obligations. As Plaintiffs have previously reported, Defendants have limited access to payment systems to a fraction of the staff who had access before January 20 and placed numerous staff who process these payments on paid administrative leave. See GHC ECF 42, at 10 (citing sources). Mr. Marocco’s own declarations also make clear that Defendants have added new layers of bureaucratic signoff to the payment review process, which require a small number of political appointees to confirm, not just that payments are valid, but that they comport with the President’s policy priorities. GHC ECF 25-1 (“Feb. 18 Marocco Decl.”) ¶¶ 6, 8 (describing “new Payment Integrity Review Process,” which entails payment-by-payment processing); GHC ECF 43 (“Feb. 25 Marocco Decl.”), ¶¶ 14-17….

Mr. Marocco’s most recent declaration is clear evidence that these new policies and processes are impeding the disbursement of funds: Mr. Marocco states that the $250 million in payments that (as he had previously represented to this Court) had been authorized for release during the week of February 17 were subsequently withheld for “specific, independent, high-level policy decisions and events that postdated [his] declaration.” GHC ECF 48-2 (“March 3 Marocco Decl.”)….

Marocco and Rubio here openly admit that they defied a federal court order to disburse funds — an order now endorsed by a 5-4 majority of the US Supreme Court. The hubris of these blokes… knows no bounds. They’ve lost in every court up and down the line. Pack it in fellas’ — try your hand at passing NEW legislation in the Congress. That’s where the effort is, or would be… lawful.

नमस्ते

Wham! Another Very Muscular Injunction — Out Of Rhode Island’s Chief USDC Judge — In Favor Of New York, Against Tangerine 2.0 Just Entered…

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As we await the start of the argument, in the USAID case handed back down to USDC Judge Ali from the Supremes — in DC at 11 AM EST — we note that the Chief USDC Judge in Rhode Island has entered his preliminary injunction against Trump’s lawlessness, in favor of the people and State of New York (but applicable nationwide) — do go read all 45 pages. It is a plain English primer — on the legal issues being resolved day by day, in some two dozen cases pending around the nation, on the topics of spending, and cuts — generally.

Here’s a bit of this fine 45 pager — but do read it all, if you are a student of history. It will be cited in future decades.

…The Executive’s [Tangerine 2.0’s] categorical freeze of appropriated and obligated funds fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government. The interaction of the three co-equal branches of government is an intricate, delicate, and sophisticated balance — but it is crucial to our form of constitutional governance. Here, the Executive put itself above Congress. It imposed a categorical mandate on the spending of congressionally appropriated and obligated funds without regard to Congress’s authority to control spending. Federal agencies and departments can spend, award, or suspend money based only on the power Congress has given to them — they have no other spending power. The Executive has not pointed to any constitutional or statutory authority that would allow them to impose this type of categorical freeze. The Court is not limiting the Executive’s discretion or micromanaging the administration of federal funds.

Rather, consistent with the Constitution, statutes, and case-law, the Court is simply holding that the Executive’s discretion to impose its own policy preferences on appropriated funds can be exercised only if it is authorized by the congressionally approved appropriations statutes.

Accordingly, based on these principles and the reasons stated below, the Court grants the States’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction….

The Agency Defendants are enjoined from pausing, freezing, blocking, canceling, suspending, terminating, or otherwise impeding the disbursement of appropriated federal funds to the States under awarded grants, executed contracts, or other executed financial obligations based on the OMB Directive, including funding freezes dictated, described, or implied by Executive Orders issued by the President before rescission of the OMB Directive or any other materially similar order, memorandum, directive, policy, or practice under which the federal government imposes or applies a categorical pause or freeze of funding appropriated by Congress. This includes, but is by no means not limited to, Section 7(a) of Executive Order 14154, Unleashing American Energy….

Now you know. Our system of ordered liberty is — in the main — ultimately (somewhat unwieldy, but effectively) self correcting, with the able aid of excellent members of the federal judiciary — like the above jurists in DC, Maryland, Massachusetts, Illinois, California, Rhode Island and Washington State. Onward.

नमस्ते

Actually, John — He’s LOST 34 Out Of 37… Already.

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Tonight, Hinderaker makes a bunch of specious claims about how separation of powers works in the US — and he’s wrong about almost all of them.

His most laughable line is that this is just one “far left“ judge. In point of fact, Trump has lost 34 of 37 court challenges to his stupidly impotent black Sharpie scribbles — in just two months time. Most importantly he lost at the United States Supreme Court — twice.

The things Tangerine’s tried to do are not remotely close questions: the power to do them belongs almost exclusively in the Congress, under our checks and balances.

And so when John says “what is a president supposed to do — when he finds fraud?” Well the answer is… talk to Congress about it, or sue in the courts under a fraud statute. The answer is not that he gets to make up “rules” on the fly. No, the Congress has to act — for that.

It is simply not within the president‘s remit to take it upon himself to create “slush funds” by withholding spending — where Congress previously had ordered spending in certain areas.

This entire fight was long ago settled at the end of Richard Nixon‘s presidency — as a bipartisan reform law came out of the Congress — (signed by GOP Pres. Ford), due to Nixon’s lawlessness, called the Impound Control Act of 1974 (it has been amended and strengthened in the ensuing five decades). It was, and is, designed specifically to prevent presidents from doing what Trump tries now, and what Nixon tried then.

So to the extent that John sees some vast Constitutional argument ahead… all he’s doing is admitting that Trump does not respect the Constitution, so he will try to make it a fight.

Trump thinks he’s a king.

He is not.

Cheers, John.

Tomorrow’s Prelim. Inj. Hearing Before USDC Judge Ali Will Be Audio Feed — I’ll Listen In; And Here Is What The Govt. Owes Him By 11 AM EST Tomorrow.

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This is — of course — the case in the USAID TRO that a 5-4 majority of the US Supreme Court just this morning ruled Tangerine 2.0 was now “out of compliance” with. Should be a banger — read the pull quote below.

Here’s the dial in details — feel free to listen, but do not broadcast or record it. [“The information for the public access line is as follows: the toll-free number is 833-990-9400, and the Meeting ID is 771021014….”]. Onward, to tomorrow, then:

…MINUTE ORDER.

The parties shall meet and confer and file a joint status report by 11:00 a.m. tomorrow proposing a schedule for Defendants to come into compliance with the Court’s temporary restraining order (“TRO”) and the Court’s February 25, 2025, order enforcing the TRO. The joint status report need not address compliance with the February 25, 2025, order for the period that the order was subject to administrative stay; however, it should address steps taken during all other periods up until the filing of the joint status report and include specificity with respect to milestones and timelines for Defendants coming into compliance thereafter. The parties’ proposed schedule should account for the length of time that has passed since the TRO was entered and the feasibility of any compliance timelines.

At the preliminary injunction hearing tomorrow, the parties should be prepared to address the substantive arguments at issue in the preliminary injunction motions. The Court will hear argument from all parties; however, Plaintiffs in the two cases are encouraged to coordinate to avoid duplicative arguments and will be given the opportunity to propose a division of the issues between counsel.

The parties should also be prepared to discuss the steps Defendants have taken to come into compliance with the Court’s orders, including any further steps that were executed following the parties’ joint status report, as well as the parties’ proposed schedule for Defendants coming into compliance.

Signed by Judge Amir H. Ali on 3/5/2025….

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Tangerine. Out. See ya’ mañana.

नमस्ते

Very Unfortunate News — The Latest Uganda Ebola Outbreak Is Spreading — Now Twelve Cases… And Musk / Tangerine 2.0 Fiddles.

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This is going to be… inexorably… political. As Musk and Trump continue to foot-drag / defy several federal court orders (including the Supreme Court’s, as of this morning!)… people are dying of a new Ebola viral outbreak in Kampala.

It is… deeply infuriating (as it would be mostly… avoidable). CIDRAP has all the latest, here:

…An investigation into Uganda’s latest Ebola Sudan patient, a 4-year-old boy who recently died, revealed that his mother and newborn sibling died a few weeks earlier from likely Ebola virus infections, the World Health Organization (WHO) African regional office said in its weekly health emergencies update.

The report also notes that the 4-year-old boy, who initially received care on February 15, was taken to four healthcare facilities as his condition worsened, before his Ebola Sudan infection was confirmed in tests after he died on February 24. This fact raises the risk of additional transmission….

What is wrong with these reprobates? Dammit.

नमस्ते

[U: Trump Flip-Flops. YAWN.] Faux Is Right About One Thing: This Is… I N S A N E.

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I won’t spend many pixels on it. Updated — by mid afternoon on Day 2 of “tariffs-pop-pop-a-loser” — Tangerine 2.0 tucks his tail between his legs, and exempts the Big Three automakers (most of which are making up to about 45% of their car components inside… Mexico!) for ANOTHER 30 days. I guess he watched… Faux News. End, updated portion.

The outcome is so obvious.

And so… heinous.

But the MAGA crowd apparently must see it on Fox, to believe it.

To believe their own eyes — instead of Tangerine 2.0’s lies:

…Fox: This Dodge Ram truck was $80,000. It instantly just became $100,000 under Trump’s tariff tax hike….

It is in fact a tax hike on working Americans — of 20% instantly. [Closer to 25%, if one considers that one will have to pay added sales tax, at the state level, on pick-up/purchase.] Damn. And… damn.

But of course, my readers well-knew all this, long ago.

Onward.

नमस्ते

Progress? Mirengoff Willing To Tell MAGAts… They Are Woefully Ignorant — Of US History Since 1940…

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Paul is — very, very slowly… inching forward the idea that most of Tangerine’s followers… are ignoramuses. [As is Tangerine, hisself, of course.]

They simply do not understand, or do not care to understand… what WWII was all about.

What it achieved. There is no… “uniparty”, and these idiots are titling at windmills.

But Paul says it so softly… that no one will notice. Yikes. But I guess progress… is progress, however miniscule on the morning after the lie-fest.

Thus he quotes Clegg as channeling Burke — as follows:

…The world order that the West has championed since World War II has left the United States by far the richest and most powerful country on the planet. We have not seen an “end of history” and a worldwide triumph of liberal democracy, but things could be a lot worse.

The Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc have disintegrated, there have been no nuclear exchanges, there are few Communist countries left (and by far the largest of them has a semi-capitalist economy), the developing world is indeed developing because of free markets, and Islamism is on the ropes. With American foreign policy’s blend of realism and idealism, and its cautious interventionism, we are also looked up to and followed, albeit sometimes grudgingly….

The jingoistic nonsense to the side — this is worth accepting, as… progress.

But will Tangerine ever grow into any form of functional adult (here entering his eighth decade?!) — on these issues?

Not so long as the churlish man-boys at Powerline and Ringside reward his malign stupidity.

So it goes. Damnation.

National Council; Other Grantees Seek DC Clarity: HUD Funds Must Be Sent On As Well, Under Existing TRO… Stop Your Stone-Walling, Musk!

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On the heels of a solid majority of the Supremes saying that Tangerine 2.0 is acting well beyond his ken here, in lawlessly trying to stop or impound funds the Congress has ordered be spent. . . I suspect he is going to abandon this effort, and hope to pass real legislation. But we will see.

My assessment is that Congress has no appetite to try this gambit. It may well be a loser, on Constitutional grounds as well. Musk is simply a baby wandering around with a shotgun, on a trip wire. He doesn’t know — or doesn’t care — whose lives he indiscriminately and wantonly wrecks — in the process. But the folks in the districts whose programs he is effectively wiping out… do. And these people will yell, at town halls — at their Congress-critters. Game over. But here is a 12-page motion overnight, in DC that will likely be granted by the able USDC Judge AliKhan:

…This Court has preliminarily enjoined [Tangerine 2.0’s team] Defendants from implementing, giving effect to, or reinstating under a different name the unilateral, non-individualized directives in OMB Memorandum M-25-13 with respect to the disbursement of Federal funds under all open awards. Defendants have narrowly construed the last clause of that order — “under all open awards” — in a manner that is inconsistent with the Court’s preliminary injunction decision and order.

Specifically, Defendants have indicated in their notice and memorandum filed with the Court on Friday, February 28, that they interpret the Court’s references to “all open awards” in the preliminary injunction order to mean not “all” open awards but instead only those open awards that have been “partially disbursed.” Plaintiffs respectfully submit that Defendants’ approach does not accord with either the letter or the reasoning of the Court’s preliminary injunction order and decision.

Defendants’ cramped interpretation appears to have led to $3.6 billion in HUD Continuum of Care funding that was awarded to various grant recipients (including members of Plaintiff National Council of Nonprofits) remaining on hold. Thus, pursuant to Rule 7(b), Plaintiffs respectfully request that the Court clarify that the preliminary injunction’s directives regarding “all open awards” applies to all awards that have been awarded — i.e., that the recipient has been notified of the decision to award the grant, loan, or other financial assistance or the award has otherwise been made public….

Now you know. Onward — smiling at my boy. Onward, resolutely.

नमस्ते

Wham! The Supremes Just Told Trump He Cannot Withhold USAID Money Already Contracted For — At The Federal Level — In AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition Cases…

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Team Tangerine 2.0 had previously gotten a very short administrative stay while the Chief Justice evaluated the moving papers. But this is money USAID was already committed to spend, and upon which many, many people and dozens of charities the world over were placing their substantial reliance interests — changing their lives, spending their own monies, and making commitments to local governments — all in reliance on the already awarded and contracted-for fundings.

Early this morning, a majority of five Justices said that the Congress meant exactly what it said — and the District Court’s TRO will stand, and be fleshed out to operationalize sending these already contracted-for funds (about $2 billion) to the agencies and charities owed them.

The key factor here is Chief Justice Roberts, along with the liberal three — and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett (usually voting with the conservative wing, so a big win here!) — are going to stand up to Trump’s lawlessness. He is… largely impotent, here. See the terse order, in full:

…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….

Alito wrote a whining dissent. You may safely ignore it.

[And it is telling that none of the Powerline boys will admit to watching Tangerine 2.0’s lie-a-thon last night; their reviews admit they went to bed — and none of them mention the lies about being for working families. Heh.] Y A W N.

नमस्ते

What Does Trump “Do For” Working Families, Again?!

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He made the claim tonight that he’s doing terrific things for working families.

I take it he means the term “terrific”
in the sense that what he is doing is terrifying to working families.

When Donald Trump was last at 1600 Penn, he repeatedly tried to raise the rent on at least four million of the poorest people in this country, many of them elderly or disabled.

He proposed to cut the federal disability benefits of a quarter-million low-income children, on the grounds that someone else in their family was already receiving benefits.

He attempted to put in place a requirement that poor parents cooperate with child support enforcement, including by having single mothers disclose their sexual histories, before they and their children could receive food assistance.

He tried to enact a rule allowing employers to pocket workers’ tips.

He tried to end overtime pay for millions of low income day laborers.

And he gave tax cuts to billionaires while effectively increasing the marginal rate that low income Americans pay in taxes.

Yep. That sure is both “populist” and “putting Americans first”, right boys?

[UPDATED: it is telling that none of the Powerline boys will admit to watching Tangerine 2.0’s lie-a-thon of last night; their reviews admit they went to bed — and none of them mention the lies about being for working families. Heh.]

Y A W N.

नमस्ते