(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
USADF fights back against Trump and DOGE in a David and Goliath drama [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-03-09
A very small, but useful, agency called the United States African Development Fund was targeted by Donald Trump for disbanding in an executive order on February 19th called Commencing The Reduction Of The Federal Bureaucracy.
Their budget for FY 2025 is $60 million. A drop in the bucket. I thought they were gone when news not only said they were fighting back, but have a case that may constrain Trump's ability to fill vacancies in agencies without Senate approval.
It starts with the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, which Trump is trying to use as logic for replacing agency heads.
The Act does not apply to agencies that have boards, commissions, or similar entities composed of multiple members that govern independent establishments or government corporations.
The United States African Development Foundation has a board of directors with a chair, vice chair and board members, with a president and CEO. Because they are not a department with a secretary head or director or administrator, they don't fall under the purview of the appointing capability of Trump to place acting appointees. They are saying Trump has no authority to replace their president.
It was bad enough when Trump issued the executive order that told them to reduce their employees to a bare minimum.
The USADF President filed a lawsuit on Thursday referring to a February 28th order from the White House Presidential Personnel Office claiming to appoint Pete Marocco as as "acting chair" of USADF because there was no board of directors. But that was only if they decided to follow Trump's executive order to reduce personnel down to the bare minimum required by law. They didn't. The leadership and all personnel were still there.
They say plainly that Trump does not have the authority.
If it were possible for Trump to do this on entities exempted from the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, then he could replace individuals willy-nilly at the Securities Exchange Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Federal Election Commission. So far, he hasn't tried to do that, except at the National Labor Relations Board, and that effort failed in court.
A professor at Stanford Law School, Anne O'Connell, said:
"That will be taking a lot of power away from the Senate power that is granted in the Constitution and power that they have protected statutorialy because they excluded these agencies from the Federal Vacancies Reform Act."
White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said, "Entitled bureaucrats like Ward Brehm are only demonstrating why independent agencies must be held accountable to officials elected by the American people."
Ward Brehm has been the chair of the USADF for four administrations. Trump had no problem with him the first time around, but then he wasn't trying to dismantle the whole government like he is now.
The snide remark by Kelly is typical of Trump administration personnel. Bureaucrats and bureaucracies are to be eliminated. But the biggest unelected bureaucrat, Elon Musk, just slides right on by.
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon barred the Trump administration from shutting down the USADF hours after Brehm filed the lawsuit.
Brehm said in his suit that he had instructed staffers to deny entry by DOGE people and Pete Marroco. Marroco is the deputy administrator for USAID and is actively dismantling it from within.
Marroco threatened to return with U.S. Marshalls and the Secret Service.
Ward Brehm said Trump and DOGE do not have the authority to shut down an agency created by Congress, especially because it had a board running it.
Marroco was as good as his word and did show up with U.S. Marshalls and DOGE staffers and tried to get access to the foundation's computer systems and personnel files.
Marroco had already shuttered another agency targeted in the Feb.19th executive order, the Inter-American Foundation that partners with Latin American and the Carribean. There's one employee left.
Also targeted, was the U.S. Institute for Peace, and the Presidio Trust that runs the 1500 acre national park overlooking San Francisco Bay.
A private nonprofit that fights authoritarianism around the world, The National Endowment for Democracy, filed suit on Tuesday because it had been blocked from accessing it's funding, which had never happened in its forty-two year existence. To Trump, a wannabe autocrat, a nonprofit fighting his very desire to join the authoritarians of the world made them an obvious target.
In the meantime, Judge Leon has stopped Trump and DOGE until a hearing is conducted about the USADF leadership.
USADF was created by an act of Congress in 1980. The law states that USADF "shall have perpetual succession unless dissolved by an Act of Congress." The President of the United States may select a board member to be the chair, and also a vice chair, but only the board can elect the President of the USADF. Brehm was made President and CEO of the USADF on March 3rd.
The attempt to replace Brehm is therefore illegal.
Brehm's lawsuit claims, "Defendants have made clear their intentions: ignore statutory requirements, pretend the leadership of the agency doesn't exist, and shutter USADF."
Judge Leon has ordered the defendants to respond to the request for a temporary restraining order by March 10th. A full hearing is scheduled on Tuesday.
Musk met with Republican leaders earlier in the week to codify DOGE into law. This could quash some of the lawsuits against DOGE. But becoming an agency opens them up for still another slew of lawsuits. Right now, they're only an advisory council and they have no authority to do what they've been doing. The U.S. Marshalls should have refused to obey illegal orders, which would have been issued by the Attorney General Pam Bondi. It's the same quandary faced by soldiers given illegal orders by a commander. Do not obey in advance.
Therefore, Pam Bondi has committed an abuse of power and should be impeached. Should be.
Donald Trump has also issued illegal orders in numerous, if not all, of his executive orders and is impeachable. Should be.
Tuesday will be interesting. Judge Leon's hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET.
The other thought about the hearing is the U.S. Marshalls. They serve the Federal courts as well as being part of the Dept. of Justice. Suppose the judge tells them not to obey any orders from DOGE or DOJ in any capacity that are outside their authority.
Here is what the Marshalls themselves say is their job. Accompanying DOGE to enter agency facilities can't be possibly be read into their duties. If anything, they would do what a judge tells them to do, even over the Attorney General.
The U.S. African Development Foundation, a small, maybe even obscure, agency is taking on Trump and DOGE. It's truly a David and Goliath battle. It could set the stage for future or current court battles, but maybe only for agencies controlled by multiple member commissions and boards. The rest of the agencies, commissions and bureaus may have to come up with their own game plan.
The elements are all there for drama: DOGE, Marshalls, judges, court decisions, DOJ, the law, illegal orders, usurpers, confrontations, agency configuration and hierarchy, and Congressional acts.
It's sort of like the fate of the country is at stake. In a way, it is. Trump steamrolling over the Constitution has to be stopped and this little agency has decided not to roll over and die.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/9/2308890/-USADF-fights-back-against-Trump-and-DOGE-in-a-David-and-Goliath-drama?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
