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With Elon Musk out of the White House and declaring war on President Donald Trump’s budget bill, it’s worth keeping in mind that the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to dismantle the government is continuing without him — though this time with one of Trump’s longtime advisors at the helm.

Also in this edition: We take a look at a court ruling that didn’t make major headlines but is a significant win for civil servants, potentially giving them a new legal route to challenge the Trump administration’s effort to gut the federal workforce.

As always, thank you so much for reading.

– Jacob Knutson, reporter

Catch up quickly 

• Newark, New Jersey Mayor Ras Baraka sued the acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, former Trump lawyer Alina Habba, over his arrest last month while protesting the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts. 
  
  
• The Trump administration filed its 18th (!) emergency application to the Supreme Court, this time asking justices to halt a lower court order limiting mass firings at federal agencies.  
  
  
• A Trump-appointed judge blocked the Trump administration from carrying out Alien Enemies Act (AEA) removals without due process against migrants in the Los Angeles area. However, unlike other judges who have ruled against AEA removals, Judge John Holcomb said he believes the act grants the president “close to unlimited” authority to determine if an invasion or predatory incursion has occurred against the U.S. But he still blocked removals over due process concerns.

Meet Russell Vought, the new face of the DOGE agenda

Though Elon Musk is leaving the White House, DOGE isn’t going anywhere.

It appears that Russell Vought — Trump’s budget hawk and one of the chief architects of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 — is stepping in to become DOGE’s new power broker.

With Vought, a self-described Christian nationalist, at the helm, the slash-and-burn effort against the federal government may be on the cusp of an even darker turn.

In many ways, Vought is what Musk is not. After working at public policy organizations for nearly two decades, he has a far better understanding of how the government works — and how its weaknesses can be exploited. Despite advising Trump for almost 10 years, he’s also kept a fairly low profile, rarely giving interviews or speaking in public. 

And Vought appears to be motivated first and foremost by creating a Christian nation controlled by an overtly Christian government. 

Last year, Vought told undercover journalists with the Centre for Climate Reporting that he wants “to make sure that we can say we are a Christian nation.”

“And my viewpoint is mostly that I would probably be Christian nation-ism,” Vought said. “That’s pretty close to Christian nationalism because I also believe in nationalism.”

To achieve that, Vought said in the interview he seeks to...

An under-the-radar win for federal workers

In a significant win for the independent civil service, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals asked a lower court to determine if Trump’s aggressive assault on civil service protections has effectively removed federal workers’ ability to challenge illegal personnel practices.

If the court finds that Trump’s actions have crippled the agencies responsible for protecting civil servants’ rights, the court could then allow federal workers to seek relief directly from federal courts. Primarily at issue are his firings of former Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger and Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) Chair Cathy Harris.  

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by immigration judges challenging a Department of Justice policy that requires them to obtain permission before speaking publicly, on the grounds that it violates their First Amendment rights. 

At issue is whether the process to settle federal employee disputes established by the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) is currently functioning as Congress intended after Trump’s meddling. The answer to that question could have far-reaching implications for federal workers challenging the Trump administration’s mass firings and other civil service protection reforms...

To do list

• The Center for American Progress (CAP) will be speaking with Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) at 2 p.m. (ET) Thursday on how Trump has undermined the foundations of America’s strength in the world...