Substitute "Tom and Daisy"

 

     ...with "Don and Elon", and you have a creepy prophecy from a century ago. 

     By now, you may have heard about US District Judge Theodore Chuang's ruling (.pdf) earlier today. He basically called Musk's and Trump's obsession with closing down USAID and freezing Congressionally-allocated funding unconstitutional without actually calling it unconstitutional. Of course, this set off Marsha Blackburn, a dependable Nazi foot soldier, who said the judge suffered from (ho hum) "Trump Derangement Syndrome".

     And, just as predictably, Pam Bondi, who obviously got her law degree out of a vending machine at a Publix supermarket, called it "judicial overreach". Judge Chuang had ordered that all USAID employees be rehired, its programs refunded and that any future decisions would have to be made or discussed with legitimate USAID personnel.

     It remains to be seen if Musk obeys the federal court  order but, considering Trump's conduct of late (Look at the White House's and Justice Department's thumbing their snouts at the judge's ruling about the Venezuelan immigrants who were just extraordinarily renditioned), I wouldn't hold my breath.

     But Judge Chuang's ruling was pretty unambiguous- He basically told Elon Musk to go fuck himself. Right wing dittoheads, incapable of forming a single thought that didn't originate in Donald Trump's diseased and demented mind, are frothing at the mouth over the salvation of an agency that, until two months ago, didn't even know existed.

     Hopefully, this is just the beginning. Just a week ago, Judge William Alsup also ordered that terminated employees be reinstated immediately within the DoD, VA, Departments of Agriculture, Energy, the Interior and the Treasury. Naturally, the aforementioned right wing dittoheads dismissed Alsup as a California liberal (even though he was born in Jackson, Mississippi).

      But there's also something that judges need to take into account, especially when their rulings about DOGE's antics: The Appointments Clause in the Constitution. This is how the Appointments Clause appears at Article II, Section 2, Clause 2:

     ... and [the President] shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

     When the Founding Fathers baked that into the Constitution in the 18th century, they were thinking more along the lines of presidents appointing people for actual political positions with the advice and consent of the Senate or, barring that, the amen from the House of Representatives. I don't recall Congress creating, recognizing or funding DOGE nor giving Trump the power to appoint Elon Musk as some wouldbe Fagin leading a pack of arrogant juvenile delinquents to take apart our government.

     Just a little something for federal judges to think about.