Executive Functions Morning Roundup
A compilation of developments related to executive power
Maryland District Court Judge Deborah Boardman on Monday granted a two-week temporary restraining order preventing the Department of Education and the Office of Personnel Management from sharing sensitive information with DOGE. Judge Boardman concluded that the continued disclosure of sensitive personal information to DOGE constitutes “irreparable harm that money damages cannot rectify.” (Politico.) (Opinion and order.)
D.C. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said during a hearing on Monday that she has “some concerns about the constitutionality of [DOGE’s] structure and operations.” Judge Kollar-Kotelly expressed specific concern about violation of the appointments clause. (NYT.) (See an earlier denial of a temporary restraining order seeking to halt certain categories of DOGE conduct from the same court (Judge Tanya Chutkan) related to the appointments clause issue.)
D.C. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden permitted the Trump administration to continue to prevent The Associated Press from covering news events involving President Trump (because of the whole “Gulf” situation). He noted that the current circumstances are “not the type of dire situation” requiring emergency relief. (NYT.) (Order.)
Maryland District Court Judge Theodore Chuang enjoined the Trump administration from carrying out immigration enforcement activities at certain places of worship that sued the administration over its new policy permitting these actions. He maintained that the new policy probably violates the religious groups’ right to freedom of association and their protections under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. (Politico.) (Opinion and injunction.)
The still-sitting (for now) head of the Office of Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger filed requests in the Merit Systems Protection Board to bar President Trump from executing “impermissible terminations of six probationary employees across various executive branch agencies.” (Notice from the Office of Special Counsel.) (Commentary from Andrew McCarthy in the National Review.)
A Veterans Affairs employee who has been with the VA since 2006, and who last year received a promotion to the General Counsel’s Office, was recently fired as a “probationary” employee. She filed a lawsuit seeking to get her job back. (Lawsuit.)
The Trump administration said Monday that replies to Elon Musk’s email asking federal workers what they did last week are voluntary. (NYT.)
Steve Vladeck argues that Defense Secretary Hegseth’s firing of the judge advocates general “sends the worst possible message to more junior officers in the JAG Corps about what kind of support they can expect from senior leadership” if they feel it’s necessary to raise legal issues with administration actions. (Vladeck in The Contrarian.)
Adam Unikowsky analyzes the legality of the Trump administration’s birthright citizenship executive order, determining that “[u]nder a neutral-principles approach, the pro-birthright-citizenship position is unassailable,” but that “[u]nder a reasoning-backward approach, the anti-birthright-citizenship position is at least possible.” (Adam’s Legal Newsletter.)