One-Man Rule

So President Trump has fired a whole host of federal agency Inspectors General without providing either the 30-day notification to Congress or the “substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons” why an Inspector General was removed, both of which are, unambiguously, required by law. Josh Blackman asks:

“What is Trump’s justification for not providing the notification? Maybe the restriction can’t be applied to a new President who has just come into office? Does Trump think that the thirty-day clock infringe on his Article II removal power? Is he daring one of the IGs to sue him, to set up a Supreme Court test case?”

Let me respectfully suggest that Josh has overlooked the most obvious answer to the question, which is:  He [Trump] couldn’t care less.  He has figured it out: He can do whatever he wants, and nobody can stop him. Unilaterally impose 25% tariffs on Colombian imports? Do it.  Withhold federal disaster relief to cities that don’t assist ICE agents carrying out their raids? Absolutely. Halt all payments due for dispersal under NIH research grants until grantees dismantle their DEI programs? Sure.

Does anyone actually believe that, during the discussion in the Oval Office concerning those moves, Trump asked: “Are we sure we have statutory and constitutional authority to do this?”?

He knows, and we know, exactly how this plays out.

1. There’s a fair bit of outrage, from reasonable people, about the illegality of the action.

2. Some of the fired IGs sue in federal court to void their dismissals on the ground that they were unlawful.

3. Considerable tangential discussion about “standing” and “mootness” ensues, but in the end – we’re talking maybe May or June at the earliest – they win!

4. Judgment is stayed while Trump appeals.

5. The appeals court takes a look at all the complicated removal clause/Article II arguments and issues its judgment . . . .

Meanwhile.  By this time, of course, pretty much everyone has forgotten what the case was about.

But much more importantly: when Trump finally loses the case and the court issues its order – “Your actions were unlawful. You must reinstate the IGs effective immediately” — what happens then?

6. We all know what happens next. What happens then is that he says “Go f*** yourself.”

The End.

I guess there are just a lot of people who think one-man rule is just what we need at the moment. I hope they’re right, because it is what we’ve got.

The post One-Man Rule appeared first on Reason.com.

Source: https://reason.com/volokh/2025/01/27/one-man-rule/