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Friday, February 21
At Democracy Docket, we prioritize our readers in everything we do. Help support our pro-democracy news outlet as we continue to hold the Trump administration accountable. Join us ([link removed]) in the fight for a stronger, more transparent democracy.

** ON THE DOCKET THIS WEEK
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** * Litigation challenging DOGE and Trump firings continues
* RNC won’t give up on state Supreme Court election challenge
* Wisconsin Supreme Court delivers win for voters

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** TRUMP ACCOUNTABILITY
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** Litigation challenging DOGE and Trump firings continues
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New filing could force DOGE to reveal how It operates within government

Democracy Forward filed ([link removed]) a motion Wednesday to seek limited, expedited discovery in its lawsuit to block Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access to sensitive Department of Labor information.

Should the court grant the motion, it would be the first lawsuit against DOGE where the plaintiffs are able to obtain evidence, albeit limited, on how Elon Musk’s faux agency is operating within the federal government.

Taxpayer advocates and unions sue to block DOGE from accessing sensitive IRS data

Taxpayer advocates and unions filed ([link removed]) a lawsuit Tuesday to block DOGE from accessing and retaining sensitive data from the Internal Revenue Service.

This is the 10th case filed to prevent DOGE from illegally accessing confidential information in federal government agencies, according to Democracy Docket’s internal database.

White House claims Musk is not DOGE employee and does not lead agency

The White House said ([link removed]) Monday that Musk is not an employee of DOGE and doesn’t lead the agency, instead solely serving as a senior advisor to President Donald Trump.

Their declaration was filed in response to a lawsuit brought last Thursday by 14 states to temporarily halt DOGE and Musk’s actions, like freezing federal funding, accessing agency data and taking over agencies, for violating the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. denied ([link removed]) the states’ request Tuesday.

Trump administration asks SCOTUS to uphold firing of special counsel

Trump’s administration asked ([link removed]) the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the recent dismissal of Hampton Dellinger, the head of the office of the special counsel — the nation’s top independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency. This is the first case challenging the new Trump administration’s actions to head to SCOTUS.

Federal judge blocks Trump from firing Merit Systems Protection Board chair

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. temporarily blocked ([link removed]) Trump’s administration from illegally firing Cathy Harris, chair of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. This board protects federal workers from unfair employment practices like politically motivated firings and reprisal for whistleblowers.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice appealed ([link removed]) this decision and asked the lower court to pause its order while the appeals process is ongoing.


** NORTH CAROLINA
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** RNC won’t give up on state Supreme Court election challenge
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The Republican National Committee (RNC) and North Carolina GOP asked ([link removed]) the state Supreme Court to resume proceedings in an election challenge regarding a seat on its own bench.

Republicans are attempting to overturn North Carolina Supreme Court GOP candidate Jefferson Griffin’s loss ([link removed]) to Democratic incumbent Justice Allison Riggs in November. They filed ([link removed]) a lawsuit Dec. 31 seeking to toss 60,000 ballots in the 2024 election from voters with allegedly “incomplete” registration information.

Griffin filed ([link removed]) a similar election challenge of his own, and it has bounced back and forth between state and federal court.

Currently, certification of the race is halted ([link removed]) , and Riggs is serving on the bench because, under state law, the incumbent holds over until a race is certified.

Since Griffin’s election challenge had been considered and heard in multiple courts and the RNC’s case — which is very similar — had remained stagnant, the North Carolina State Board of Elections and Democratic National Committee (DNC) asked ([link removed]) the state appeals court to pause proceedings in the RNC case.

In their Jan. 15 request, they argued the Republican plaintiffs’ claims are “entirely duplicative of claims already proceeding on an expedited basis in other cases, including before our state Supreme Court.” They added that allowing both election challenges to proceed “presents a serious risk of inconsistent results” and would waste judicial and legal resources.

The appeals court granted ([link removed]) their request a couple of days later, pausing proceedings in the RNC case while Griffin’s legal challenges were being litigated.

Now, the RNC has asked ([link removed]) the state Supreme Court to either reverse the trial court’s decision ([link removed]) rejecting its motion to immediately segregate the 60,000 ballots or to allow proceedings to resume in the appeals court. Read more about the RNC’s request here ([link removed]) . ([link removed])


** WISCONSIN
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** Wisconsin Supreme Court delivers win for voters
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In a 4-3 ruling, the Wisconsin Supreme Court dismissed ([link removed]) a right-wing legal challenge Tuesday that sought to limit the authority of municipalities to designate early absentee voting locations and prevent future use of a mobile voting van deployed by the city of Racine during the 2022 election cycle.

This ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty ([link removed]) , a conservative law firm, on behalf of Racine voter Kenneth Brown. The case appealed the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s (WEC) decision in August 2022 to reject Brown’s administrative complaint that sought to prohibit Racine’s use of alternate absentee voting sites and mobile voting facilities.

WILL argued ([link removed]) that Racine’s “scattering” of absentee voting sites throughout different areas outside of where the municipal clerk’s office is located “was what conferred partisan advantage” to Democrats during the 2022 primary election.

The majority opinion, from which all of the conservative justices dissented, didn’t address the merits of the case, instead concluding that Brown doesn’t have standing to sue, since he failed to demonstrate that WEC’s decision harmed him.

With Tuesday’s ruling, Wisconsin voters will continue to have access to early absentee voting sites in future elections. However, given the decision did not address the merits of Brown’s arguments, the door remains open for future right-wing legal challenges regarding this issue.

Wisconsin voters will head ([link removed]) to the polls on April 1 to vote in a high-profile state Supreme Court election that will determine ideological control of the bench. Read more about the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s ruling here ([link removed]) . ([link removed])


** OPINION
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** Marc’s Open Letter to Elon Musk
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Musk recently posted on X that Marc and another lawyer are “undermining civilization.” He goes on to ask if they suffered childhood trauma and concludes by suggesting they are suffering from “generational trauma.” In response, Marc wrote an open letter to Musk.

Marc specifically touched on Musk’s point about generational trauma, explaining that “I am Jewish,” and “Like many Jewish families, mine came to America because of trauma.”

He also addressed the “real crux” of the social media post.

“Together, you and [Trump] are dismantling our government, undermining the rule of law and harming the most vulnerable in our society. I am just a lawyer. I do not have your wealth or your platform. I do not control the vast power of the federal government, nor do I have millions of adherents at my disposal to harass and intimidate my opponents. I may even carry generational trauma,” Marc wrote. Read the rest of the letter here ([link removed]) . ([link removed])


** NEW VIDEO
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** White House claims Musk is not part of DOGE, does not lead agency
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The White House said in a court filing that Musk is not an employee of DOGE and doesn’t lead the agency, instead solely serving as a senior advisor to Trump. Marc and Paige discuss how the claim causes more confusion and leaves one big question: If Musk isn't in charge of DOGE, who is? Watch on YouTube here ([link removed]) . ([link removed])


** What We’re Doing
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Democracy Docket Senior Case Coordinator Rachel Selzer is reading ([link removed]) “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century” by historian Timothy Snyder. It’s a pithy and instructive guide that contains tangible ideas for how we can survive and resist the creep of authoritarianism here in the U.S. Although the book was published in 2017, it is more timely than ever in light of the unprecedented democratic backsliding we are experiencing under the new Trump administration.
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