Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, two billionaires appointed by President-elect Donald Trump to oversee the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), say they will rely on recent Supreme Court rulings to justify unilaterally cut down federal agencies and wipe away existing regulations.
In an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, the pair of MAGA businessmen pointed to two particular rulings that will prove especially helpful, in their view. In 2022, the court found that federal agencies cannot address "major questions" with broad economic or social impact without explicit congressional approval. Later that same year, the Supreme Court overturned its own precedent that had called on courts to defer to an agency's interpretation of ambiguous laws.
Both decisions have empowered courts to intervene in federal policy, striking down Biden administration rules they characterize as overreach, including student loan forgiveness and an overtime pay expansion. Now that Musk, Ramaswamy and their allies are at the executive steering wheel, they believe that the courts will back their rollback of thousands of other policies, amounting to about $500 billion in cuts.
Programs on the chopping block include the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, as well as international aid and money for Planned Parenthood.
Some legal experts say their confidence is misplaced. William Buzbee, a professor at Georgetown Law, told Reuters that the Musk-Ramaswamy interpretation of recent cases is "very confused," and that while Trump has latitude to ask agencies to "go easy" on enforcement, neither court decision restricts federal agency powers as much as Musk and Ramaswamy might wish.
But even a partial realization of their plans could severely disrupt government services essential for a functioning society, especially if they end up firing federal workers en masse or inducing them to retire. Musk has admitted as such, suggesting that Americans would have to suffer immediate "hardship" in exhange for long-term prosperity.
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