Trump's Government Downsizing Leads to More Lawsuits, Warnings

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump issued an executive order last week to government agency heads telling them to submit reorganization plans within 30 days in another move fueling lawsuits.

He told the agencies to prepare for widespread staff reductions.

He issued the order the same day he announced expanded authority for Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to rework the federal government.

Some Democrats are saying they will shut down the government next month when a vote on the federal budget is scheduled rather than approve the way Trump is turning the government inside out.

“We are using all our powers in the Senate to slow down this train wreck,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.

He called powers granted to Musk to oversee government operations “illegal.”

They have tried to stop Trump by joining lawsuits that seek injunctions against his orders to shut down agencies and to fire any government employees who oppose him.

More than 50 lawsuits have been filed in the past three weeks challenging Trump’s policies and actions.

The most recent was filed by eight inspectors general in federal court in Washington, D.C. They were among 17 attorneys general fired in a two-sentence email that cited “changing priorities.”

They accused Trump of exceeding his legal authority as president. Attorneys general are watchdogs of waste and fraud in government agencies who were authorized by Congress under the Inspector General Act of 1978.

The eight attorneys general who sued seek reinstatement in their jobs.

“The purported firings violated unambiguous federal statutes — each enacted by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed into law by the president — to protect inspectors general from precisely this sort of interference with the discharge of their critical, nonpartisan duties,” their lawsuit says.

If the attorneys general win the injunction they seek, it would join other court orders to block Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship, to cut off federal funding to the U.S. Agency for International Development and to deny access to Treasury Department financial accounts.

So far, Trump has largely ignored the court orders. He said he would wait for appellate court rulings.

His tendency to push ahead regardless of court rulings prompted Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to make a pointed remark about Trump during a speaking engagement Tuesday at a Florida college.

“Our founders were hellbent on ensuring that we didn’t have a monarchy and the first way they thought of that was to give Congress the power of the purse,” she said.

She added, “Court decisions stand whether one particular person chooses to abide by them or not.”

For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: [email protected] or phone: 202-479-7240.

Elon Musk Calls for Firing Judges Who Opposed Trump’s Policies

Elon Musk is calling for judges who have ruled against Trump administration policy decisions of recent weeks to be removed from office.

In one message on his social media service X, he said a judge who tried to block Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team from access to Treasury Department payment systems was “a corrupt judge protecting corruption.”?

Musk’s comments prompted what appeared to be the first rift among Trump administration officials.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the impeachment of federal judges is “not going to happen” now.

The judges are supposed to be protected from reprisal for their decisions by the separation of powers embedded in the U.S. Constitution.

Musk’s criticisms followed court rulings to override presidential executive orders that restrict birthright citizenship, required agencies to take down health-related websites and froze federal grant funding.

Much of President Donald Trump’s anger was directed at U.S. District Judge John McConnell, who last week upheld a temporary restraining order to prevent a federal funding freeze. The money is dedicated to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other government entities.

Trump said in a social media post after the ruling that despite the Department of?

Government Efficiency finding “massive” fraud and waste, “a highly political, activist Judge wants us to immediately make payment, anyway."

Musk targeted additional criticism at McConnell but added other judges to his list.

"There needs to be an immediate wave of judicial impeachments, not just one," Musk posted.

He posted a photograph of Washington, D.C. District Judge John Bates with a message saying, “This evil judge must be fired!”

He was angered by Bates’ restraining order in favor of healthcare groups who sued over the removal of websites and data sets from federal public health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.?

The plaintiffs said closing down the sites posed a “serious threat” to public health.

Musk also criticized federal Judge Paul A. Engelmayer for blocking Musk’s access to Treasury Department payment systems and Judge Carl J. Nichols for barring the Trump administration from putting 2,200 U.S. Agency for International Development? employees on paid administrative leave.

Musk’s demand for the judges to be fired was not shared by Bondi, the Trump administration’s attorney general.

"We're going to look at everything," Bondi said during a press conference. "We're going to follow the process. These are federal judges with lifetime appointments.”

She said rulings by judges that Musk wants fired “will be struck down, ultimately, by the Supreme Court of the United States if the appellate courts don't follow the law."

For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: [email protected] or phone: 202-479-7240.

Trump Pauses Enforcement?of Foreign Bribery Ban

President Trump signed an executive order last week pausing enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

The law prohibits American citizens and entities from using bribes of government officials to benefit their business interests. It also applies to foreign corporations that trade securities in the United States.

The law defines bribes to include “anything of value.” Violations of the law are prosecuted by the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission through criminal and civil penalties.

Trump said current enforcement strategies could inhibit the ability of Americans to conduct foreign trade.?

"We have to save our country," he said in a fact sheet about his executive order. "Every policy must be geared toward that which supports the American worker, the American family, and businesses, both large and small, and allows our country to compete with other nations on a very level playing field."

The order directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to revise guidelines on how the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is enforced.

Last year, the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission announced 26 enforcement actions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. There were 17 a year earlier.

The executive order did not endorse bribery by Americans but hinted that it would be tolerated if it was necessary for successful international business.

"U.S. companies are harmed by FCPA overenforcement because they are prohibited from engaging in practices common among international competitors, creating an uneven playing field," the fact sheet says.

Bondi gave a glimpse of how she would revise the enforcement guidelines in a memo last week to the Justice Department's Criminal Division that handles foreign business cases.

She told the division’s attorneys to "prioritize investigations related to foreign bribery that facilitates the criminal operations" of cartels and transnational criminal organizations.

Her memo also said prosecutors should “shift focus away from investigations that do not involve such a connection."

Congress enacted the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in 1977 after media reports of widespread corruption in how international contracts were awarded. The Act is supposed to ensure American businesses do not engage in the same unethical behavior.

In a recent prosecution, Germany-based software company SAP SE agreed last year to pay $220 million to resolve U.S. claims that it bribed South African and Indonesian officials.

Until Trump signed his executive order Monday, anti-corruption advocacy organization Transparency International said the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act made the United States a leader in fighting international corruption.

Trump's order "diminishes - and could pave the way for completely eliminating - the crown jewel in the U.S.'s fight against global corruption," Gary Kalman, executive director of Transparency International U.S., said in a statement.

For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: [email protected] or phone: 202-479-7240.

Amazon Settles for $3.95 Million Over Tipping Policy for Drivers

Amazon agreed to pay the District of Columbia $3.95 million this month to settle a lawsuit that accuses the company of appropriating tip money that customers thought they were paying delivery drivers.

The D.C. attorney general said in the lawsuit the money was “stolen.”

The lawsuit says Amazon misled its customers by assuring 100 percent of their tips would go to Amazon Flex delivery drivers when the truth is the money was diverted to reduce Amazon’s labor costs and to increase its profits.

Amazon denied the allegations, saying any claims of wrongdoing involved a payment method it no longer uses.

The D.C. lawsuit follows a similar lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission. Amazon paid a $61.7 million settlement after the FTC sued.

Both the FTC and D.C. attorney general said the problems started in 2016 when Amazon changed from paying drivers the promised rate of $18 to $25 per hour, plus tips, to paying drivers a single hourly rate. The company told the drivers they would earn the same amount of money.

Instead, Amazon used the tips to pay its overhead expenses, which resulted in less money for drivers, according to the FTC and D.C. attorney general. Only in 2019 did Amazon inform customers that less than 100 percent of the tip money they paid was going to drivers, according to the lawsuits.

Amazon Flex is a quick delivery service that allows drivers that started in 2015.

The 3.95 million in the D.C. settlement includes $2.45 million in penalties and $1.5 million in costs.

“We hope that what this signals to companies is that there are consequences if they deceive customers and take advantage of their employees,” D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in a statement. “It’s not just enough to give the drivers what they already should have been paid.”

Under the settlement, Amazon did not admit any “violation of law or regulation, of any other matter of fact or law.”

For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: [email protected] or phone: 202-479-7240.

Maryland Bill Would Halt Police Stops for Minor Offenses

A controversial bill pending in the Maryland General Assembly would prevent police from stopping motorists for minor infractions.

Its sponsors in the Legislative Black Caucus say it would reduce confrontations with police that can lead to unnecessary violence. They say it also would free police to handle more serious crimes.

Its critics say it is an irresponsible way of encouraging lawless people to continue breaking laws, thereby creating a public safety risk.

Senate Bill 292 would ban police from stopping motorists for 16 traffic offenses, such as having an unregistered license plate, failing to use turn signals, spinning wheels, noise-making and driving in bus lanes.

Part of the motivation for the bill comes from an Oct. 17, 2019 Prince George’s County traffic stop that left then 24-year-old Demonte Ward-Blake paralyzed from the neck down. An officer stopped him for expired tags.

During the stop, an officer pulled his gun, enraging Ward-Blake and prompting him to swear at the officers. His attorneys say one of the officers who arrested him for disorderly conduct slammed him headfirst into concrete, paralyzing him. The police said Ward-Blake fell while trying to flee the scene.

Law enforcement officers represented by the Maryland Chiefs of Police Association testified in the General Assembly against the bill.

Attorneys from the Maryland Office of the Public Defender who testified in favor of the bill say it would reduce racial disparities among motorists pulled over by police for minor infractions.

For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: [email protected] or phone: 202-479-7240.