Law, Power, and Justice

Interesting Articles

The Intelligencer

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/06/trump-and-desantis-want-to-destroy-the-civil-service.html

• Since 1883, we have had a civil service designed to end the “spoils system” where presidents were allowed to reward political supporters with appointed officers and also fire federal employees who had not sworn loyalty to them.
• (Note: Scandal over Alberto Gonzalez’ firing of federal prosecutors under the Bush Administration.)
• Donald Trump wants to tear that apart and establish his own loyal servants.  This is just one of the steps toward establishing an authoritarian state.
• Trump, in October of 2020, issued an “executive order creating a new Schedule F classification of political appointees to include most policymaking positions in the higher levels of the bureaucracy. Like a lot of alarming things Trump proposed, Schedule F didn’t get implemented, and Joe Biden quickly revoked the executive order and restored the traditional civil service.”:
• Trump however, is already threatening to put such a policy in place if he returns to power.
• “Those involved in the effort to revive Schedule F told Government Executive last week that they have identified 50,000 federal employees that could be fired under the proposed new authority, although they hope to fire only a fraction of that total to create a “chilling effect” to keep the rest of them in line.”
• DeSantis is also threatening to implement such a policy.
• “So a Republican Party that once invented and then championed the idea of a nonpartisan civil service is now fighting to dismantle it. That means a new class of federal appointees charged with a partisan agenda will arrive along with a new GOP president, in positions of authority. It’s one of many underestimated implications of the 2024 presidential contest.”

Quote from Keith Olberman: “Arrest Trump while we still can.”