All of DOGE’s work could be undone as lawsuit against Musk proceeds

Aurich

Director of Many Things
41,438
Ars Staff
As frustrating as it is that these kinds of things are so slow to grind through the courts, I will never cease to be amazed at how stupid these clowns are when it comes to publicly bragging about the things they're doing. They just cannot help themselves, because more than anything they want the attention and the social media likes.

Elon Musk could have just quietly gone about his shady business, but no, he had to get on the soap box he bought to make sure all his dumb fanboys could retweet him and give him high fives.

And it's not just this case, it's every case. He keeps losing because his ego and mouth can't help but make sure everyone knows what he's actually doing.

1774376404270.png
 
Upvote
73 (73 / 0)

TimeWinder

Ars Tribunus Militum
1,825
Subscriptor
And it's not just this case, it's every case. He keeps losing because his ego and mouth can't help but make sure everyone knows what he's actually doing.
Just out of curiosity, what would "winning" look like? He keeps getting rulings against him, but I've yet to see even a hint of an actual consequence to Elon. His goals were chaos and destruction, and in that he's succeeded beyond any Project 2025 fever dream.
 
Upvote
42 (42 / 0)

42Kodiak42

Ars Tribunus Militum
1,508
Here's one reason why the US system is broken - all of these arguments were made at the time, and it has still taken the court a year to do anything about it. All the personnel and offices of those agencies are gone. A governmental system that cannot handle psychotic attacks like this is not viable. The US needs to not just remove the criminals that are currently looting it, but re-organize in a way that prevents this.
The horrifying part is that all of the defense's arguments could be summed up as "These laws don't apply to us because we broke other laws." And yet the courts still spent so much time entertaining such an absurd premise.
 
Upvote
40 (40 / 0)

formerprodigy

Smack-Fu Master, in training
99
I'll put the headline in the "hyperbole" column as I learned in grade school that all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back in the bottle, or something like that.

All the data they exfiltrated, all the careers ruined, all the lives damaged by DOGE's efforts aren't going to be made whole. That work can't be "undone."
 
Upvote
30 (30 / 0)

formerprodigy

Smack-Fu Master, in training
99
Less likely they will refuse to hear it, which would leave standing a lower court order against DOGE and Musk, and more likely they will stick it in their to-do list, postponing the hearings as long as they can possibly get away with.

It's already likely too late for a lot of what got dismantled. Even if tomorrow a court said put everything back together, and even if the Trump administration complied with such an order (any guesses as to the likelihood of that happening?), it would take years to rebuild what was destroyed in months.

These agencies rely (relied) on bureaucrats who had developed their knowledge and skills over years of practice. I know we look down on bureaucracy, and sometimes rightly so, but there's also a lot of good provided by continuity of bureaucrats preserving institutional knowledge and exercising that knowledge to execute the laws Congress passed (such a quaint idea these days, I realize).

Most of these people that got fired aren't coming back. It will take a long time for any new crop of bureaucrats to reach the previous level of performance.

If you're a Thomas or Alito, looking to backstop Trump's effort to dismantle government, most of the work has already been done. Taking the case and then just sitting on it for a year or so is just icing on the cake.
My point more explicitly.

Decades of institutional knowledge are gone, and now that those jobs are seen as political spoils, good luck ever finding enough talented career minded people to take the risk again in order to rebuilt it.
 
Upvote
27 (27 / 0)

Uragan

Ars Legatus Legionis
11,413
As frustrating as it is that these kinds of things are so slow to grind through the courts, I will never cease to be amazed at how stupid these clowns are when it comes to publicly bragging about the things they're doing. They just cannot help themselves, because more than anything they want the attention and the social media likes.

Elon Musk could have just quietly gone about his shady business, but no, he had to get on the soap box he bought to make sure all his dumb fanboys could retweet him and give him high fives.

And it's not just this case, it's every case. He keeps losing because his ego and mouth can't help but make sure everyone knows what he's actually doing.

View attachment 131321
Well, yeah… Musk is an idiot who has constantly fallen up… so it tracks that he would put it out there for the world to see.
 
Upvote
20 (20 / 0)

kaezi

Seniorius Lurkius
32
Subscriptor
Here's one reason why the US system is broken - all of these arguments were made at the time, and it has still taken the court a year to do anything about it. All the personnel and offices of those agencies are gone. A governmental system that cannot handle psychotic attacks like this is not viable. The US needs to not just remove the criminals that are currently looting it, but re-organize in a way that prevents this.
Brings to mind Frank Herbert's solution in Dosadi Experiment and Whipping Star: The Bureau of Sabotage

When the government is moving too fast, you just have a sanctioned department to break it. It's a wild concept.
 
Upvote
15 (15 / 0)
As much as I want to be excited to see possible actual justice sometime over the next few years, I've just been disappointed too many times already.
Yep. People kept buying teslas after he called someone a pedo based solely on where they lived, and then won in court when a defamation lawsuit happened because he had better lawyers. I doubt even if he's loses that anything will personally happen, and his goons will just keep buying his stock because of the memes.
 
Upvote
28 (28 / 0)

vvax56nM

Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
166
As frustrating as it is that these kinds of things are so slow to grind through the courts, I will never cease to be amazed at how stupid these clowns are when it comes to publicly bragging about the things they're doing. They just cannot help themselves, because more than anything they want the attention and the social media likes.
While they are bragging about the things they're doing, these posts are also a statement on (what they believe to be) the fact that they are untouchable. And so far they seem to be right.

The only times rich people are punished is when they defraud people even richer than themselves.
 
Upvote
30 (30 / 0)
As frustrating as it is that these kinds of things are so slow to grind through the courts, I will never cease to be amazed at how stupid these clowns are when it comes to publicly bragging about the things they're doing. They just cannot help themselves, because more than anything they want the attention and the social media likes.

Elon Musk could have just quietly gone about his shady business, but no, he had to get on the soap box he bought to make sure all his dumb fanboys could retweet him and give him high fives.

And it's not just this case, it's every case. He keeps losing because his ego and mouth can't help but make sure everyone knows what he's actually doing.

View attachment 131321
To be fair, Elon and his group all thought a huge coup was gonna happen and there'd be no SCOTUS or Congress to hold them back
 
Upvote
14 (14 / 0)

AusPeter

Ars Praefectus
5,286
Subscriptor
I don't even understand what "undone" means. Like if they conclusively found that Trump's victory in 2016 was illegitimate by foreign collusion, how do you even roll that back? As much as I would love for a Dem to win all 3 branches next time around (if there's even a legitimate next midterm and election) and say "fuck everyone, here's Universal Health Care and all our other stuff we want, try and undo it years later when it's too late", that just shows how broken everything is.
There's a whole bunch of dead kids that can't be undone.

(Ninja'd of course)
 
Upvote
16 (16 / 0)
This article didn't satisfy my curiosity piqued by the sub headline about DOGE's "biggest wins". What were those, exactly?
Neutering the IRS (personally vital for these guys), hollowing out the department of education and co-opting what is left of it for political lawfare on students and academics, effectively eliminating USAID and the vast suffering and death as well as loss of reputation - or as they see it, gain of a certain kind of reputation - that is now following, and similarly gutting many functions of the EPA (though some impacts in those polluting industries are slower to manifest due to inertia or lawsuits) are the big headines. But there are just so many more, from American scientific research and publishing to election integrity to civil rights enforcement to aviation.
 
Upvote
22 (22 / 0)
FINALLY SOMETHING.

I'm still waiting on the formal charges for what Musk called "fraud." That is not a vague term like "waste," but fraud directly implies that specific laws were broken and there was proof of it. He made this claim over and over, yet I am not aware of a single criminal probe into any such activity. Ipso facto it was a lie then and it's a lie now.
"Ironic" (in quotes because it's as intended) because the parts of government most invested with waste, fraud, and abuse are those that were not just untouched, but greatly expanded, the US military overshadowing all others at the top.
 
Upvote
17 (17 / 0)

EnPeaSea

Ars Scholae Palatinae
5,329
it was both! don't try to Mandela Effect this! We were promised 2 separate checks. Also no tax on overitme, which is really just no tax on the 0.5 of the 1.5 part of overtime.
No tax on overtime, because there will be no more "overtime". Fuck that weak, liberal 40-hour work-week. Also, no tax on TIPS, an acronym for Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities. /s
 
Upvote
13 (13 / 0)

moddrift

Ars Praetorian
554
Subscriptor
DOGE was just cover for destroying and crippling swathes of government (thus implementing P2025 and also killing over a dozen investigations into Musk companies), illegally hoovering up and merging government held data, rallying the maga-morons, etc.
No Ars story yet about FCC ban on foreign-made consumer-grade "wireless routers." FCC will no longer approve for sale or use foreign-made, new model or revision consumer-grade wireless networking equipment.
The only company manufacturing any such equipment in the US is Starlink. Router makers can apply to FCC for "Conditional Approval," subject to DOD and DHS review.
I hadn't heard of this. I'm responding just to reiterate that Ars needs a do a write-up.
 
Upvote
3 (7 / -4)
DOGE's "work" of paying teenagers to vandalize the government and steal data to distract DC from Trump's pillaging.
Exactly what I came here to say. "Work"? What "work"? Call it what it is, please: vandalism. And call Musk, his minions, and their fans what they are: vicious idiots.
 
Upvote
13 (13 / 0)
It's funny how everyone has already forgotten that these morons tried to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

Clowns all the way from the top to the bottom.
Yep. Here we are in the year 2026, and the Insane Clown Posse has usurped the US government. The truth is far stranger than fiction.
 
Upvote
10 (10 / 0)

Granadico

Ars Scholae Palatinae
1,221
it was both! don't try to Mandela Effect this! We were promised 2 separate checks. Also no tax on overitme, which is really just no tax on the 0.5 of the 1.5 part of overtime.
I think it's actually a tax credit so it applies mostly to higher income people. If you're Doing overtime at McDonalds you probably are getting a tax refund already so the tax credit doesn't even help you.
 
Upvote
8 (8 / 0)

Good to hear those estimated hundreds of thousands of people who died without USAID food & medicine will be coming back to life.
Sociopaths don't care. I mean, they do not care one iota that people suffer and die as a result of their actions. And just like Trump gave permission for overt bigotry and racism, now Trump and his administration are encouraging greater collective psychopathy. Though "trickle-down" economics didn't work, trickle-down psychopathy is working just fine. If the US had the biggest population of psychopaths per capita before the Trump phenomenon, it'll be even worse by the end of this strange experiment in the fusion of capitalism with fascism.

Just remember, “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.”
 
Upvote
23 (23 / 0)

Tobold

Ars Tribunus Militum
2,074
Subscriptor++
I truly hate that no matter how fake the name change is legally that the Department of War is a real thing.
It's not. Legally, the department is defined by 10 USC § 111. The Secretary position is defined by 10 USC § 113. That's legally. When terrible people have full control of the government, they can ignore the law for a while.
 
Upvote
10 (10 / 0)

azazel1024

Ars Legatus Legionis
15,239
Subscriptor
Here's one reason why the US system is broken - all of these arguments were made at the time, and it has still taken the court a year to do anything about it. All the personnel and offices of those agencies are gone. A governmental system that cannot handle psychotic attacks like this is not viable. The US needs to not just remove the criminals that are currently looting it, but re-organize in a way that prevents this.
Yeah, I get that in theory the judge could order it all to be undone. How? Even if the administration was interested in complying, some of those agencies are GONE now. You'd have to reconstitute them. I could see damages award to harmed parties, but the actual structural changes to government, would at best, takes several years to fix. Even if you tried to "rush" the agencies back into existence and most of the folks were willing to come back to work for them.

Another one of those where, even ignoring the long term harm, the regimes actions, if up held by SCOTUS (yeah, as everyone is saying, a wild card) is likely to cause hundreds of billions of damages to US tax payers to make organizations, grantees, former employees, current employees, etc. whole from the damages caused by illegal and unconstitutional actions.

Because vibes (and Ketamine. A whole lot of ketamine).
 
Upvote
10 (10 / 0)

azazel1024

Ars Legatus Legionis
15,239
Subscriptor
I know this isn't the scope of the case.

I know it's not the point of this lawsuit.

I still really hope, given how law is Calvinball anymore anyway, this somehow results in a criminal conviction of Musk for treason.
I could see how the judicial opinions could be used as a basis for eventual criminal charges. Not under the current admin though, but the next one maybe.
 
Upvote
11 (11 / 0)

formerprodigy

Smack-Fu Master, in training
99
It's funny how everyone has already forgotten that these morons tried to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

Clowns all the way from the top to the bottom.
This administration's moves seem to line up exactly with the grievances I'd expect to hear from some geriatric, rich old white guy at the country club. (Note: I earn about 40% of my income as a contractor working at country club athletic facilities - and I can pass for an old white guy of status, so I tend to be invisible - or seen as an ally - by those in higher tax brackets).

If you want to know what Trump will do next, I suggest finding a wealthy, retired, white septuagenarian that yearns for the good ole days. Just ask them what they'd do to make things better, and you'll know.
 
Upvote
10 (10 / 0)
I admit, when the DOGE/Musk idea was first floated, I thought, what could they do? There wouldn't be any legal basis for it. I underestimated their willingness to just completely ignore that. Good to see the courts finally catching up with that, even if SCOTUS is a wild card.
If nothing else it’ll give a future SCOTUS ammunition to reverse a shitty devision from this SCOTUS, dont underestimate how lower court case law can shape future decisions, especially since it’s pretty clear the majority of the federal bench, at least below the apellate level, are disgusted with the current SCOTUS. Those are the future apellate and SCOTUS judges, they wont forget
 
Upvote
8 (8 / 0)
I think it's actually a tax credit so it applies mostly to higher income people. If you're Doing overtime at McDonalds you probably are getting a tax refund already so the tax credit doesn't even help you.
Its not. Higher income people are "exempt" so don't get regular overtime. I know from experience.

Because I'm salaried and my employer pays my overtime at a fixed converted hourly rate based on my salary, I can't claim that tax credit. There's no 0.5 to save taxes on. I get paid 1.0 overtime.

And as you said, most hourly workers who DO get the 0.5 don't save on taxes either because they make so little to start with.

It was a gimmick bait and switch that doesn't help hardly anybody.
 
Upvote
31 (31 / 0)

real mikeb_60

Ars Legatus Legionis
13,180
Subscriptor
Yes, they do. And they are absolutely unable to admit it was illegal and should require prison time for all parties involved - including Agent Orange who created it to circumvent the constitutional requirement of due process.
Agent Orange was elected President (misfortunately), and his pet Supreme Court said that the President can do anything, legal or not, and can't be prosecuted for it. I'm a little worried that they could extend the principle to all members of the cabinet and department heads (iow those appointed by the President, ordinarily subject to advise and consent by the Senate). The next step past that would be "Oh, you never asked for Senate approval and nobody In the Senate challenged that? We'll interpret that lack of challenge (in this court) as implicit consent." Or even, "the issues raised are not the business of states and individuals. They are the business of Congress if they don't agree that the President has the power to do DOGE (or any other similar thing) as it was done (and continues to do under other direct management). Nobody in Congress (specifically, the Senate) is a party (as a plaintiff) to this suit. So the plaintiffs lack standing." Either way, "case dismissed."

Has anybody at DOJ tried to raise those issues (yet)?
 
Upvote
2 (3 / -1)