WVXU's Cincinnati Edition aired a segment discussing President Trump's executive orders and what the Constitution allows. Trump is using executive orders to fire thousands of federal workers. How is Congress and the courts responding?
More than 10,000 federal workers have been dismissed as a result of the president's executive order. UC Law Professor Anne Lofaso and U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman spoke with Cincinnati Edition about presidential executive orders.
Landsman says the layoffs could affect public health, consumer protection and other areas of service. His comments were part of a recorded interview that aired the first half of a 47-minute segment.
"You have got people being fired virtually indiscriminately," says Landsman. "This has been days, weeks and there is no way to have reviewed any of this in any meaningful way. So, they are just going after and indiscriminately getting rid of federal employees for a couple of reasons.
"I believe they are going to replace those employees with folks loyal to Trump and that was always part of the plan. That is Project 2025 which is a governing document, not a campaign document, but a document put together by the Heritage Foundation, people who have been very close to and paid for a good portion of the Trump campaign."
UC Law Professor Anne Lofaso continued the conversation with Cincinnati Edition discussing the legality of executive orders issued by President Trump. (Her segment begins at 25:18).
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson says that because Trump is the commander-in-chief he has the authority to eliminate federal agencies and make cuts.
"This is a separation of powers issue and the Constitution puts the budget squarely into Article 1, which is Congress and the power of the purse is with the House of Representatives," explains Lofaso. "And of course budgets have to also be approved by the Senate and then upwards.
So, that is a very inaccurate statement, the President is not in charge of the budget, the Congress is and it is very important to our form of government that we have separation of powers," adds Lofaso. "The whole purpose of separation of powers is to ensure no particular person or branch becomes so powerful that he, or she or they become a king, queen or monarch."
Lofaso says Trump's aim to eliminate waste in government with the Department of Government Efficiency is ill-conceived. "He takes a sledgehammer to a problem that needs a surgical instrument. He also created a redundancy.
"DODGE is redunct. He fired the inspector generals and their job was exactly what DODGE is supposed to be doing, which is to eliminate waste fraud and abuse," explains Lofaso. "I think the American people don't understand completely what the government does, it has agencies to do this and instead he wanted his person in there and that's what he did."
Lofaso says lawsuits from federal employees terminated are moving forward.
"I do think many of them will be successful, especially the ones making the case that they are the head of an independent agency," says Lofaso. "I think they will definitely be successful as long as The Supreme Court follows precedent."
She cited the case of Humphrey's Executor vs United States that the president can not fire appointed leaders of the alphabet soup of federal agencies without cause.
Lofaso teaches courses in labor law, employment law and constitutional law at UC Law.
Listen to the full interview on WVXU's Cincinnati Edition.
