Daniel Huff
Appearances
Morning Wire
Tesla Attacks Investigated & Trump Battles Legal Injunctions | 3.20.25
So what's important to understand here is that these are preliminary injunctions or temporary restraining orders. These are pre-trial orders. Now, because you're getting relief up front and they're blocking the government from acting up front, there are certain safeguards. And one in particular is 65C, which governs how courts operate.
Morning Wire
Tesla Attacks Investigated & Trump Battles Legal Injunctions | 3.20.25
And what it says is that a judge may issue an injunction or temporary restraining order only if... only if the party seeking that restraining order posts bond to compensate the party that's being restrained from any damages or costs that it may incur, should it later turn out that the injunction was invalid and that it had a right to do what it wanted.
Morning Wire
Tesla Attacks Investigated & Trump Battles Legal Injunctions | 3.20.25
So how does that work practically, such as with the USAID cases? The short answer is in none of these cases, including the one you just mentioned, have the judges ordered a bond in an amount that is proper.
Morning Wire
Tesla Attacks Investigated & Trump Battles Legal Injunctions | 3.20.25
The rule says that you have to post a bond and the judges have discretion to determine the appropriate amount, but that discretion is limited because the amount still under the rule must be an amount that is adequate to compensate the enjoined party here, the government, from the costs and damages that occur. So it can't be zero and it can't be de minimis.
Morning Wire
Tesla Attacks Investigated & Trump Battles Legal Injunctions | 3.20.25
And the case you just referenced, I believe that the bond was set at $100. Now, I don't know all the costs of bringing people back to work and giving them their laptops and so on and so forth, but I'm pretty sure at the level we're talking about, you know, thousands or at least hundreds of workers, it's a lot more than $100. So that one was improper.
Morning Wire
Tesla Attacks Investigated & Trump Battles Legal Injunctions | 3.20.25
Yes, I do. And I think that that's probably part of the calculation of the department, the Justice Department, in terms of how they handle it. They think, well, we'll get this sort of fixed at the Supreme Court level. But, you know, there's a danger there, right? One is that the Supreme Court conservative majority has not always been reliable. And number two, these things take time.
Morning Wire
Tesla Attacks Investigated & Trump Battles Legal Injunctions | 3.20.25
And in the meantime, momentum is lost. I mean, think about the travel ban that President Trump put into place in his first term early on in the first few days. That was ultimately upheld in the Supreme Court. I think it was a year later. And that makes a very big difference in terms of the energy of an administration and the morale. So there's real damage to waiting.
Morning Wire
Tesla Attacks Investigated & Trump Battles Legal Injunctions | 3.20.25
I think that ultimately they will be successful more often than not, specifically because the conservative majority, which I mentioned before, is sort of not always reliable. They are pretty reliable on executive power and sort of proper use of government funds. So I think they can ultimately prevail. But again, much time can be lost in the interim.
Morning Wire
Tesla Attacks Investigated & Trump Battles Legal Injunctions | 3.20.25
So I hope that they take stronger action up front. And one way to do that is the injunction bonds. And President Trump has issued a memorandum ordering the agencies to do this. And Senator Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, recently wrote a letter to Attorney General Pam Bonney urging her to push for this point.
Morning Wire
Tesla Attacks Investigated & Trump Battles Legal Injunctions | 3.20.25
So I do hope that this is something that they pay more attention to because I think it can help them much more quickly than waiting for a Supreme Court decision.
Morning Wire
Tesla Attacks Investigated & Trump Battles Legal Injunctions | 3.20.25
Great to be here. Thanks for having me.