In the Press

“The president’s attempt to terminate commissioners Bedoya and Slaughter is contrary to federal law and nearly a century of supreme court precedent,” said Amit Agarwal, special counsel for Protect Democracy, which is representing Slaughter and Bedoya in the lawsuit. “This isn’t about Democrats versus Republicans or liberals versus conservatives – it’s about an economy governed by laws rather than political whims.”

“These agencies need to be able to operate with a level of independence so that they can do the work for the American people and not be puppet masters” serving the president’s allies, says Jared Davidson, counsel for the nonpartisan, nonprofit legal advocacy group Protect Democracy, which works to counter authoritarianism.

“This could be one of the most massive and unconstitutional power grabs in U.S. history,” said Alex Tausanovitch, a spending expert with the anti-authoritarian group Protect Democracy.

In addition to being potentially illegal, it means that government funding for heart disease research and taxpayer benefits for solar panels are held up based on the whims of the occupant of the White House — who can change dramatically every four years.

“Does the president have to debate a court order? Can the president impound congressionally mandated funds? The answers to these are really clear: No,” said Erica Newland, a former Justice Department official and lawyer now with the anti-authoritarian group Protect Democracy. “They haven’t been contested up until this point, and now they aren’t being contested in good faith.”

“Today, the court agreed with our claim that DOGE affiliates do not need to access Americans’ highly sensitive and private data to do their jobs,” Kristy Parker, a lawyer at Protect Democracy, an advocacy group representing the unions, said in a statement. “This ruling is an important step in protecting American’s right to privacy from people who may not have appropriate authority to access it and who may not be using it properly or with adequate safeguards.”

Some experts say we’re already in a constitutional crisis. Trump and his billionaire donor Elon Musk are dismantling agencies and programs that were set up by a different branch of government, Congress.

“There is no other way to describe an executive branch acting as if the legislative branch was consultative,” Ben Raderstorf, who is with the group Protect Democracy and author of the newsletter “If You Can Keep It,” told me earlier this month.