Judges Issuing Lawless Bans On Trump’s Clearly Legal Executive Actions Have Extremist Records
Two judges who have issued injunctions against a series of President Donald Trump’s clearly legal executive orders both have records of extremism.
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. on Thursday temporarily blocked Trump’s federal employee buyout program that originally gave federal workers the option to decide by Thursday to leave their current role with full pay and benefits until September 30, 2025. The memo was issued in accordance with Trump’s goal of shrinking the federal workforce. Several unions sued, arguing the order “violates federal law.” O’Toole issued a ruling Thursday delaying the deadline until at least Monday, though O’Toole “did not express an opinion on the legality of Trump’s buyback program,” according to Fox News.
But former federal prosecutor and current criminal defense attorney Andrew Cherkasky tells The Federalist “historically, buyout programs have been a standard tool for managing federal workforce reductions efficiently and voluntarily … There is no constitutional or statutory prohibition against modifying the terms under which employees receive buyouts.”
“The judge blocking this EO is likely doing so on speculative grounds — perhaps arguing that it conflicts with statutory provisions — but executive authority over the federal workforce has long been upheld, particularly when aligned with cost-saving and efficiency rationales,” Cherkasky continued.
O’Toole had also recently blocked the Trump Administration from sending a man cosplaying as a woman to a men’s prisons. Trump signed an executive order recognizing there are only two sexes, male and female. As part of the order, men would be sent to men’s prions and vice versa. The order also specified that federal dollars would not be spent “for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.” But O’Toole issued a temporary restraining order against the directive, meaning that in a case brought by Maria Moe — a mentally ill man who identifies as female — Moe would not be transferred to a men’s prison.
Moe was indicted in 2013 “on two counts: conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine … and distribution of 50 grams or more of methamphetamine …,” according to Case Text.
But Cherkasky tells The Federalist that Trump’s order is “legally sound” and that Trump “has the authority to set policies governing the classification and housing of federal inmates under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b), which grants the BOP discretion in assigning prisoners to appropriate facilities.”
“The Supreme Court has long held that prison classifications based on biological sex serve legitimate government interests, such as safety and order within correctional facilities. In Farmer v. Brennan (1994), the Court acknowledged that prison officials must balance safety concerns when housing inmates, and the executive branch has broad discretion in making those determinations,” Cherkasky continued.
Cherkasky told The Federalist both orders are “clearly” within Trump’s “lawful authority.”
“Courts are not meant to serve as super-legislatures, nor are they supposed to micromanage executive agencies absent a clear constitutional or statutory violation,” Cherkasky said. “Judicial activism in these cases represents an encroachment on the executive’s rightful prerogative to govern federal employment and corrections policies.”
Meanwhile Clinton-era Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a temporary restraining order Thursday that “blocked DOGE from obtaining access to certain Treasury Department payment records,” according to Fox News.
Kollar-Kotelly ruled that officials at the Treasury “will not provide access to any payment record or payment system of records maintained within the [Treasury] Bureau of Fiscal Service,” according to the ruling. Kollar-Kotelly previously approved a motion from the Justice Department that permits Elon Musk and Tom Krause, CEO of Cloud Software Group, to have read-only access to certain records, according to Fox News.
Kollar-Kotelly’s decision came after a lawsuit was filed arguing DOGE was given access to personal information despite lacking the authorization needed to view the documents.
Kollar-Kotelly previously sentenced eight pro-life activists to federal prison, including 77-year-old Paulette Harlow, who entered a D.C. abortion facility in 2020 and, according to the Department of Justice, “forcefully entered the clinic and set about blockading two clinic doors using their bodies, furniture, chains and ropes.” Harlow’s husband begged for leniency, noting Harlow’s declining health, to which Kollar-Kotelly said Harlow should “make every effort to remain alive, to do the things that you need to do to survive.”
Kollar-Kotelly also said that Trump’s January 6 pardons “will not change the truth of what happened on January 6, 2021,” according to ABC News. Kollar-Kotelly also repeated the debunked claim that officers died as a result of January 6.
“More than 140 officers were injured. Others tragically passed away as a result of the events of that day,” Kollar-Kotelly reportedly said. Not a single Capitol police officer was killed on January 6, 2021. One officer died of natural causes following two strokes, while four officers died by suicide within months of January 6 — including two officers who were not present for the actual protest.
Kollar-Kotelly also drew comparisons between the Civil War and January 6, according to CBS News.
Kollar-Kotelly also previously blocked a 2017 order from Trump that sought to ban men identifying as women and vice versa from serving in the military. Kollar-Kotelly ruled the plaintiffs “have established that they will be injured by these directives, due both to the inherent inequality they impose, and the risk of discharge and denial of accusation that they engender,” according to CNN.
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2
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