Is DOGE Breaking the Law?

We the People

National Constitution Center

History, News Commentary, News

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 March 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kate Huddleston, senior legal counsel of litigation at the Campaign Legal Center, and Michael McConnell, Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School, join Jeffrey Rosen to debate whether the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has acted lawfully in firing federal workers and freezing federal spending. Resources Campaign Legal Center, Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (March 3, 2025) Michael McConnell and Laurence Tribe, “Is Musk’s DOGE Dodging the Law?,” Open to Debate (March 7, 2025) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at [email protected] Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate. Follow, rate, and review wherever you listen. Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube. Support our important work. Donate

Transcript

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0:00.0	Elon Musk and the newly created Department of Government Efficiency have been freezing federal spending and laying off federal employees, raising questions about the scope of their legal authority.
0:13.8	Hello, friends. I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, and welcome to We to People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.
0:22.7	The National Constitution Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit, chartered by Congress,
0:27.2	to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.
0:32.2	This week, I'm delighted to welcome two leading legal thinkers to debate whether or not the Department of Government
0:40.5	Efficiency or Doge has acted lawfully. Kate Huddleston is Senior Legal Counsel for Litigation
0:47.5	at the Campaign Legal Center, a graduate of Princeton in Yale Law School. She clerked for
0:52.7	Judge Stephen Reinhart of the
0:54.4	Ninth Circuit and Justice Goodwin-Lew of the Supreme Court of California. Before joining CLC,
1:00.4	she worked in impact litigation at the ACLU in Texas and Arizona. Kate and the CLC are suing
1:07.5	Elon Mosque and Doge in the D.C. District Court. Kate, it is wonderful to welcome you
1:11.9	to We the People. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me here today.
1:16.7	And Michael McConnell is the Richard and Francis Mallory Professor and Director of the
1:20.5	Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. He served as judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit,
1:29.3	is co-chair of the META Oversight Board,
1:32.3	and a great friend of We the People.
1:34.7	Michael, it is always wonderful to welcome you back.
1:37.5	Yeah, thanks for having me back, Jeff.
1:39.9	Well, let's begin with a simple, but perhaps useful question.
1:45.6	Kate, what does Doge actually do and what is its legal authority?
1:50.6	Great question.
1:51.7	So Doge, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, is not a federal executive department.
	...

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