Rhea
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rheasood.bsky.social
Rhea
@rheasood.bsky.social
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Interested in genetics, gene editing, and immunology. LSRP1 at the Schumer Lab @ Stanford
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altnih4science.bsky.social
Here’s the status of the case, from the piece.
How this case may play out What should we expect to happen now? While it seems clear that the President does not have the right to destroy via RIF the capacity to execute Congressionally-mandated agency functions via RIF, much will turn on which courts and which judges are weighing in on this case. The case was filed in the Northern District of California, and assigned to Judge Susan Illston, a liberal appointee. You can find the docket here. A motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) was filed on May 1. It asks for, amonst other things, to block or enjoin “…execution of any existing reduction in force (“RIF”) notices.” Most of the NIH RIFs would be finalized in early June. So if the judge grants the order, it will make the NIH RIF notices invalid and put people back to work supporting US science and universities and sending out funds that scientists have won for excellent proposals. The hearing on the motion is set for this Friday, May 9, at 10:30am Pacific. That’s the big hearing. Will the judge grant a TRO? Let’s hope. What comes after any TRO will be big. Republicans would almost certainly call for the judge’s impeachment — an entirely laughable situation, as the judges that do deserve impeachment are those like Clarence Thomas who have accepted payments from Trump-allied billionaires. (Not kidding. We should laugh in the face of anyone who proposes impeaching judges who decide against Trump.) After the district court acts, Trump and his minders like Stephen Miller and Russ Vought will try to get any TRO up to the Supreme Court as quickly as possible, where a majority of justices have issued political decisions to protect Trump. What would happen at the Supreme Court? It’s hard to predict with certainty. But it seems likely from here that the Supreme Court will find a way to use its shadow docket to in effect overturn the TRO, perhaps by “playing fast and loose with terminology to obscure what it is actually doing,” as even far-right Federalist Society lawyer Josh Blackman said about the SCOTUS order in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case. As so often with Trump and Republican party action, the way for us to beat their deception is to get out in front of it. We should start saying now that the Supreme Court must let any TRO stand — and not just stand “in part” while the order actually overturns the TRO, but actually let the effect of the TRO stand. If the district court judge stops the RIFs with a TRO, we must demand the Supreme Court shadow docket decision on the TRO must also stop the RIFs. Spread the word to your friends and colleagues. We should start talking about what the Supreme Court will do in this case now. This case deserves a lot of our attention. Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.
May 5, 2025 at 3:25 PM