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Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts
Extra: The Federal Funding Freeze
Jan 28, 2025
Dahlia Lithwick chats with Stephen Vladeck, a constitutional law expert and author of "The Shadow Docket," about the recent federal funding freeze and its implications. They dissect the legal chaos resulting from the White House's memo halting federal grants, raising alarms over potential executive overreach. Vladeck highlights the constitutional crises this could trigger, drawing parallels to Nixon's tactics. The conversation underscores the fragility of checks and balances in the current political climate and the dangers of prioritizing policy over law.
42:52
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Quick takeaways
- The White House's funding freeze poses a constitutional crisis, challenging the balance of power between executive authority and congressional appropriations.
- Legal challenges to the OMB memo could redefine the Supreme Court's role in upholding constitutional governance and legislative authority.
Deep dives
Constitutional Meltdown and Federal Authority
A significant constitutional crisis emerges as a memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget orders all federal agencies to pause grants and loans, citing a need to reassess compliance with new directives. The memo characterizes funding programs related to 'Marxist equity, transgenderism, and Green New Deal social engineering policies' as wasteful. This move comes amid broader concerns about governmental integrity, including the dismissals of key inspectors general and a crackdown on immigration policies. Experts warn that this situation signals a power grab by the Trump administration that undermines both Congress and the judicial system, raising alarms about authoritarian tendencies.
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