Obama judge sides with DOGE in USIP challenge

I feel like a broken record reporting this, but there has been yet another challenge to DOGE entering an agency to review records.

This time, it was the U.S. Institute for Peace (USIP), but an Obama-appointed judge bucked the recent trend of liberal judges siding with plaintiffs.

DOGE Cuts

DOGE is now claiming that it is cutting about $1 billion per day from government spending, but I would have to question that number.

I say that because many of these cuts have been challenged, and in the case of the government having to rehire nearly 25,000 workers, I would think there are going to be significant additional costs added.

Regardless, at the very least, DOGE is exposing waste and possible fraud, and that is half the battle right now.

One thing that cannot be denied is the contracts and subscriptions DOGE has cut, resulting in about $18 billion in savings for the American people. It is a far cry from the $2 trillion Musk initially promised, but I never really expected him to deliver on any more than about 25% of that initial promise anyway.

Judge Sides with DOGE

When a DOGE or executive order case has come before a liberal judge, the Trump administration has been defeated about 90% of the time, so I was stunned to see an Obama-appointed judge give DOGE the nod when it wanted to get into USIP.

The lawsuit claimed, "Defendants have been and are at this minute engaged in conduct that will cause the Institute irreparable harm that will prevent the Institute from performing any of its lawful functions and is likely to utterly destroy it.”

Judge Beryl Howell sided with DOGE, but not before offering up a lecture. In part, her ruling stated, "I think there is confusion in the complaint that make me uncomfortable.

"I would say I am very offended by how DOGE has operated in the Institute in treating American citizens…. but that concern about how this has gone down is not one that can sway me in the consideration of factors for TRO, which is emergency relief, which is exceptional.”

The DOGE Impact

There is obvious concern about how these cuts will impact local economies, so I wanted to take a quick look at that.

I think we all support wasteful government spending being ended, but we cannot ignore the fact the federal government is this country’s biggest employer. To that point, in a city like Oklahoma City, nearly 4% of the entire workforce is employed by the government, so if you lay them off, you virtually double the unemployment rate in the city.

Ben Zou, an associate economics professor at Purdue University's Mitch Daniels School of Business, further explained, "When a military base downsizes, most of its dismissed workers pack up and leave. It can be a very different story if displaced workers choose to stay on in the local economy that now offers fewer job opportunities."

I want to be clear… I am all for downsizing the government workforce and eliminating waste, but I also want everyone to realize all these people will be hitting entitlement programs, so cutting these salaries only increases unemployment and some entitlement program spending, so these are not clear-cut wins. This is all going to take time to flush out, so be patient, and hopefully the country comes out better for it all on the other side.