Posted on 03/28/2025 3:25:00 PM PDT by Kazan
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a decisive blow to the left’s relentless lawfare on Friday.
The court granted an emergency stay, suspending a lower court’s absurd preliminary injunction that sought to hamstring Elon Musk, the United States DOGE Service, and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from carrying out their mission to streamline a bloated and inefficient government—starting with the outdated United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The original ruling, handed down by a Maryland district court on March 18 by Judge Theodore Chuang, was a textbook case of judicial overreach, cheered on by 26 anonymous USAID bureaucrats desperate to cling to their cushy government gigs.
Judge Chuang, an appointee of Barack Obama, issued a 68-page opinion asserting that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) initiative to dissolve USAID likely violated the Constitution.
He ordered the restoration of email and computer access to all USAID employees, including those placed on administrative leave, effectively halting the administration’s cost-cutting measures.
These “J. Does 1-26” whined that Musk and Trump’s DOGE team were trampling the Constitution by daring to cut waste, cancel contracts, and shut down an agency that’s long outlived its usefulness.
They cried about the Appointments Clause and separation of powers, claiming Musk—a private citizen turned Senior Advisor to the President—was somehow illegally acting as DOGE’s “Administrator.”
Judge Chuang, predictably sympathetic to the swamp, slapped an injunction on Musk and his team, ordering them to restore USAID’s bloated systems and halt any further “dismantling.”
But the Fourth Circuit saw through the nonsense. In a sharply worded order, Judges A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr. and Paul Victor Niemeyer shredded the lower court’s logic, finding that Trump’s team made a “strong showing” they’d win on appeal. The evidence? Overwhelming.
Musk isn’t some rogue “Officer of the United States” requiring Senate confirmation—he’s a trusted advisor executing the President’s Article II authority to run the Executive Branch as he sees fit.
USAID’s shutdown wasn’t Musk’s unilateral doing; it was greenlit by duly appointed heavyweights like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Deputy Administrator Peter Marocco.
The court scoffed at the plaintiffs’ reliance on Musk’s X posts and news clippings, noting there’s zero proof he acted without proper authorization.
The Fourth Circuit didn’t stop there. It dismantled the district court’s flimsy claims of “irreparable harm” to these anonymous plaintiffs—fears of unpaid bills, hurt feelings from Musk’s blunt talk, and vague worries about data breaches.
“Subjective fear doesn’t cut it,” the judges ruled, pointing out that any real damages could be fixed with money, not a sweeping injunction.
The court ruled reviewed by The Gateway Pundit, “The district court found irreparable harm based on subjective fear of a lack of physical security, fear of nonpayment of expenses, fear their reputations will be harmed by the negative comments of defendants about USAID employees and contractors and fear that their confidential information might be exposed. But subjective fear that is remote and speculative is insufficient to show the required actual and imminent harm to establish irreparability.”
Meanwhile, the harm to Trump’s administration without a stay? Irreparable.
The lower court’s order would’ve crippled the President’s ability to enact his efficiency agenda, tying the hands of an Executive Branch elected to drain the swamp.
Amusing.
Wonder how long before the next level denies the freedom again.
This is a slugfest, down and dirty all the way.
Mud wrestling veterans are best equipped for the justice system today.
Excellent decision—hopefully we get to see some more sanity from appeals courts.
The lower court judge in this case was guilty of grotesque judicial misconduct.
This administration is just getting started with thousands of separate actions dismantling the bureaucracy.
Most of them are going through (with little news coverage) with no court cases at all.
The leftist judges are just kicking up dust—as the tanks roll through the territory.
“Wonder how long before the next level denies the freedom again.”
I believe that the next level is the supreme court.
this is good I guess...
hopefully its contagious...
As with so many incidents in 2024 to now (will Trump go to prison? Will Trump be prosecuted by Fani during the month before the election?) this is another key moment.
Let’s try not to imagine Roberts and the justices wimping out. It would mean separate appeals and countersuits for every gang member, probationary federal employee and trans type in the country.
And every little Trump hating judge able to blockade any action he or she wants to block and applying that to the whole country. Which should never have been allowed as Mark Levin has said for years.
A judge in Mudslide Hills, Virginia in the Appalachians shouldn’t make a ruling for all 50 states to follow.
A Federal Judge just said the Fourth Circuit Court ruling is to be ignored.
It’s the “Constitutional” argument that irritates me. USAID doesn’t have Constitutional rights, the Constitution is meant to protect the rights of humans, not governmental agencies. And as for the humans who worked for it, there is no Constitutional “right” to the job of your choice.
oh bless you warden judge, should we all kiss his feet that commie judge actually did something right..I keep on forgetting, did anyone elect these judges, NOPE no one did
“The leftist judges are just kicking up dust—as the tanks roll through the territory.”
tanks are rolling and can’t be stopped they are on a mission!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyxdytY7ex8
the people that appoint and confirm them were elected ... that is our system ...
”Let’s try not to imagine Roberts and the justices wimping out. It would mean separate appeals and countersuits for every gang member, probationary federal employee and trans type in the country”
I think a decision like this gives the SC the opportunity to wimp out. They can simply refuse to take the case and let it stand.
I am sure it was the Hawaii judge.
Just as I am sure Laz was joking.
Oh, say it isn’t so.
Fraudsters fail to protect their crooked cash cows!
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