Justin Pidot

House Natural Resources Committee Holds Hearing on Another Ill-Conceived Permitting Reform Bill - Legal Planet The SPEED Act, the latest NEPA "reform" bill, would fatally compromise a recipe for ill-conceived decisions, not better government.

Congress considers permitting “reform” to allow agencies to simply ignore science (and public comments too).

legal-planet.org/2025/09/07/h...

OLC reared its head recently to opine that Trump can abolish any national monument he wants. Here are just a few of the problems with OLC’s opinion.

www.yalejreg.com/nc/olc-rears...

Local opinion: Federal support is disappearing for Arizona's libraries and museums What's at stake isn't merely buildings with books and artifacts, but our shared commitment to an informed society.

Trump is coming for libraries and museums too. Arizona Law’s Teresa Miguel-Sterns writes about what we stand to lose.

tucson.com/opinion/colu...

Opinion | What exactly does Trump think is in the Smithsonian? Following his most recent executive order, I went in search of some “corrosive ideology.”

A beautiful and haunting reflection on Trump’s assault on the Smithsonian.

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

This is the most important news right now. Finally, someone stands up in the Senate & uses the filibuster. We need to see more of this, but that only happens if we pay attention. He has committed to stand & talk on the Senate floor until he can’t anymore.

Give this man some support!

Environmental Justice is Not About “Them.” It’s About All of Us. | ACS

Environmental Justice is Not About “Them.” It’s About All of Us. Check out this @acslaw.bsky.social op-ed co-authored by Prof. Sharmila Murthy @sharmilamurthy.bsky.social, former director for environmental justice at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
www.acslaw.org/expertforum/...

The Trump Administration Is Making the NEPA Process Worse for Everyone - Center for Progressive Reform On February 25, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued an interim final rule (IFR) rescinding the CEQ regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). On M...

Trump is making the environmental review process under NEPA worse. Worse for the environment. Worse for the public. Even worse for business.

John Ruple, Jamie Pleune, and I explain at the link and in a comment we filed with 25 other profs to CEQ.

progressivereform.org/cpr-blog/tru...

We apologize to our Ukrainian supporters. We are embarrassed by how our president and vice president have behaved. We are fighting to redeem the soul of America. 🇺🇸

5YO: “I’m a rememberer, not a saver.”

Leadership is doubling down, but GOP members are getting nervous about the budget’s extreme unpopularity.

You can call your Representative now at 202-224-3121.

Your regular reminder that the US air & water pollution laws passed in the 60s & 70s -- and the elaborate federal bureaucracy created to administer them -- constitute one of the most successful gov't interventions in history. WILDLY successful. The envy of the world.

Trump administration fires top US general and Navy chief in unprecedented purge of military leadership | CNN Politics In an unprecedented purge of the military’s senior leadership Friday night, President Donald Trump fired the top US general just moments before his defense secretary fired the chief of the US Navy and...

Another Friday, another Friday night massacre. May the military’s new leadership remember that their first loyalty is to the constitution.

amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/02/...

Trump’s Attempt to Kill Congestion Pricing Will Backfire Traffic tolls, welcome to the resistance.

I'm quoted along with @rickhills.bsky.social and other experts in this deep dive on the attempted revocation of federal approval for congestion pricing, by @henrygrabar.bsky.social. slate.com/business/202...

And just like that, all of the regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act are gone. Don’t know how they are going to avoid this causing massive chaos and unpredictability for anyone seeking a federal permit.

ceq.doe.gov/docs/laws-re...

Among the consequences of this EO, if upheld, would be to transform the Federal Elections Commission from a fair referee for federal elections into a partisan tool to bolster the party in power.

Firings are happening right now at the National Science Foundation. Essential staff are being cut.

This isn’t about the budget. If it was, they’d be going after the military (17%) or state appropriations (38%). NSF is 0.7% of the federal budget. All federal employees make up only 4% of the budget.

Every expression of “outrage” was a political calculation to take power and do worse.

How can we have fair elections if the incumbent president controls the Federal Elections Commission? We need an independent agency to oversee our elections, not a political operations designed to steamroll opposition parties.

Effectively ending independent agencies is itself a BIG deal that upends a 100 years of precedent and agency structure. That’s what we should focus on now.

That THIS EO does not infringe on the independence or authority of courts doesn't mean those core principals aren't under threat (see statements of Vance). We need to save our fire on that front for when it's needed. 3/3

Trump's EO asserts that the President and AG provide "authoritative interpretations of law for the executive branch." The effect is to bind independent agencies, which have been understood to have the authority to adopt their own legal interpretations, not the "independent judiciary." 2/3

Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

Let's be clear about the nature of Trump's latest power-grab . He is effectively ending the independence of independent agencies (if the courts allow him to). He DID NOT assert that the President's interpretation of the law overrides Congress or the Courts. 1/3

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Musk and his lackeys are taking the unprecedented, outrageous, unnecessary, and suspect step of accessing the tax returns and social security payments of every American family and business.

Will the public wake up? Will Democrats successfully make hay? Will Republicans finally speak up?

Local opinion: Cutting funding for science in Arizona hurts our economy and our future The cuts are leading us down a path that will cede the United States' world leadership in science, medicine and health.

Scientists explaining the devastating impact of Trump's assault on science.

"[Trump's] actions will end research that is working to cure cancer, develop new technologies, drugs, and therapies, clean up environmental contamination, or solve climate change."

tucson.com/opinion/colu...

In response to Trump’s assertion, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” we say:

The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants.

Here is the oath all executive branch employees take. It is to support and defend the Constitution, not to “implement the president’s agenda.” If the two purposes diverge, the Constitution prevails.

Don't Gaslight Yourself. You're Right To Grieve What's Happening to America. I know what you're thinking.

I hear the nagging question you ask inside your head a few hundred times a day: "Is it me, or has a huge portion of this country lost its mind?"

It isn't you.

johnpavlovitz.substack.com/p/dont-gasli...

Anyone else watch this video and think “dang that’s awesome! Wish it were me!” . . . Just me?

Trump Publicly Admits He Thinks He Can Break Any Law He Wants Trump posted on Presidents Day weekend, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law” — a startling, if not surprising admission.

“And though it may be objectively shocking that a modern American president would repeatedly admit to this, without fear of significant pushback, on a random Saturday, it is regrettably unsurprising for this particular president.”

www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

A Marine vet thought he found a 'home' working at the VA. Now he's one of 1,000 fired. Andrew Lennox, who was terminated from the VA, noted the irony of the VA claiming it had fired some veterans to help veterans.

This is what slashing the federal workforce looks like. Human suffering. Opportunity squandered. And the continuing selflessness of (former) civil servants. And for what? Nothing that serves the America people.

taskandpurpose.com/news/veteran...