During its first few weeks, the Trump Administration has unleashed a flurry of measures to radically reshape the federal government. Many of these moves are overtly unlawful. This paper identifies the legal problems with many prominent actions: closing federal agencies or departments and removing federal employees, ending the independence of independent agencies, placing employees on indefinite administrative leave, or pressing them to resign.[[2]](https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/many-trump-administration-personnel-actions-are-unlawful#_ftn2)

  • Hegar@fedia.io
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    4 days ago

    Pretending that the law matters during a fascist coup is not productive.

    • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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      4 days ago

      Claims to illegality are part of the toolset of building the opposition to respond to a coup. “It’s all over, what the law says doesn’t matter” is what’s actually counterproductive.

      • Nougat@fedia.io
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        4 days ago

        Acknowledging the failure of the legal system is hardly a dissuasion from action.

      • pathos@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        It’s even more important as during such a coup, the law gets instrumentalized as a tool of oppression. Owning the rule of law to defend democratic intent is necessary to prevent such instrumentalization as much as possible.

    • henfredemars@infosec.pub
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      4 days ago

      Indeed. We have a vague notion of law at this point with such deep cracks in the foundation.

      Mostly, there’s just power. Whatever I can get away with is valid.

  • ryper
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    4 days ago

    I would even go so far as to say most of the Trump administration’s personnel actions are likely unlawful.

  • WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works
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    4 days ago

    Elon Musk has personally now committed enough felonies to earn himself multiple life sentences. Let that sink in for a moment.

    He either needs to stay in power forever, or he needs a pardon from the president. And if you’re counting on that magnitude of a pardon, what other crimes might you be willing to do? If you already face potentially multiple life sentences, what’s one more? I wouldn’t put it past that bastard to be putting together that concentration camp at Gitmo so he can run unlicensed and involuntary Neuralink experiments on those poor people.

  • Professorozone@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    Oh no! Unlawful? I bet they didn’t know and will stop immediately now that it’s been pointed out. Maybe serve jail time!

  • lennybird@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    I guess it’s worth saying this for the apathetic and ignorant who might be in the transition phase of finding out, but we went past the point of the law mattering loooong ago.

    But rest assured David Brooks says the courts will save us, surely!..