The Dismantling Of Federal Agencies

With the single term as president Trump appointed over 234 federal judges during his four years in office. And they have started to wreck havoc on the federal agencies.

Judge strikes down Biden admin ban on noncompete agreements: ‘Arbitrary and capricious’
The New York Post
By Reuters    
Aug. 20, 2024


A federal judge in Texas on Tuesday barred a Federal Trade Commission rule from taking effect that would ban agreements commonly signed by workers not to join their employers’ rivals or launch competing businesses.

US District Judge Ada Brown in Dallas said the FTC, which enforces federal antitrust laws, does not have the authority to ban practices it deems unfair methods of competition by adopting broad rules.

Brown had temporarily blocked the rule in July while she considered a bid by the US Chamber of Commerce, the country’s largest business lobby, and tax service firm Ryan to strike it down entirely. The rule was set to take effect Sept. 4.

Brown in her ruling said that even if the FTC had the power to adopt the rule, the agency had not justified banning virtually all noncompete agreements.

I had to sign one, as an electrical engineer I could not work in electronics anywhere in the U.S., it basically forced me to work for only them. If I didn’t like the pay or working conditions… well tough cookies.

Then we have…

Court permanently blocks environmental civil rights protections for Louisiana’s Black communities
The new ruling bars the state from considering whether to permit industrial facilities in communities already facing a disparate impact from pollution
The Louisiana Illuminator
By: Terry L. Jones
August 24, 2024

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana this week issued a permanent injunction that prevents the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice from using Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to control how Louisiana regulates polluting facilities.

Judge James Cain’s ruling solidifies his earlier decision in January, which blocked EPA from imposing or enforcing so-called disparate impact-based requirements in its permitting decisions. In the earlier decision, Cain wrote that “pollution does not discriminate,” and that if a regulating authority had to consider race in its enforcement decision making, it will “indeed participate in racism.”

Cain is federal court appointee of former President Donald Trump.

EarthJustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization, said the court’s ruling is a significant setback for civil rights and environmental justice in Louisiana. EarthJustice’s Patrice Simms said it could embolden other states to seek similar exceptions and discourage other federal agencies from implementing civil rights enforcement.

Then we have the Supreme Court overturning years of precedents.

Supreme Court Chevron Decision Threatens Our Food, Water, and Air | Opinion
Newsweek
By Steve Cohen and Michael Shank
August 14, 2024

Americans may have heard a lot lately about the "Chevron decision" in the news, though most probably wouldn't be able to describe what it is exactly. It's not household knowledge yet. And while Chevron might be a household name for folks who get gas there, the Supreme Court's recent decision striking down the legal principle of Chevron deference will soon become relevant and potentially a risk to every household in America.

The recent decision Loper Bright v. Raimondo, a direct byproduct of former president Donald Trump's stacking of the Court, overturned 40 years of precedent under which America's federal government, its agencies, and scientists used their expertise to regulate things—like toxic chemicals that are harmful to human health—without having to go to court each time to interpret an aspect of a given law.

As of this summer, however, that is no longer standard practice. The Loper Bright decision turns over key decision-making powers to courts, judges, and clerks who don't have the scientific expertise to protect Americans from toxic chemicals and other dangers.

Increasingly partisan judges and their clerks, who are equally unqualified in the subject matter of a given federal rule, will now have the power to block actions they don't like. We've seen it happen before. In one opinion, Supreme Court Justices wrote that laughing gas, or nitrous oxide, was the chemical key in reducing ozone pollution, when it wasn't even close to the right chemical compound. Justice Neil Gorsuch even published the opinion online before catching the error hours later.

It will even get worst! This is one of the thing that Project 2025 writes about, dismantling the federal agencies. In the EPA the plan is to restructure the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (Which the judge in Louisiana already did.), Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance, and the Office of Public Engagement of Environmental Affairs. In the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) they plan… The plan advocates for relaxing worker safety rules enforced by OSHA, rolling back regulations that protect workers, which would likely include many OSHA standards, but that is not the end of the changes they want to reduce enforcement capabilities of federal agencies, which would likely include OSHA's ability to conduct inspections and issue citations. And the nail on the coffin, they also want to fire career civil servants with political appointees who align with the Republican ideology.

 

If Trump gets elected he will appoint another Supreme Court justice and more federal court judges 

Vote Blue! We need to save our country from falling into the hands of the oligarchs.