This is the Cater Daily podcast for Wednesday, February 5th, 2025.

I'm Caleb Brown.

Through the rapid-fire issuance of executive orders of dubious legality and related actions

with respect to federal agencies and employees, the Trump administration appears to be testing

the bounds of not just

federal law, but of constitutional separation of powers. Cater's Walter Olson walks us through

some of what's occurred in just the last few weeks.

Since the Trump administration began just a couple of weeks ago, Walter, I'd like you to make note of that. There have been a flurry of

executive orders and other actions taken with respect to spending, with respect to immigration,

with respect to federal laws that are just sort of being ignored, it seems.

What jumps out at you in terms of, it's a lot to keep track of, certainly.

But what jumps out at you is being particularly bothersome for the future if some of these actions are able to stand up.

Well, let's start with what is most worrisome.

I would say the pattern is more worrisome than any individual component,

because you mentioned immigration, you mentioned one or two other areas, but this really is

sort of across the board. It includes civil service protections which are provided by current

federal law and which are being ignored. It includes the details of

things like how we are supposed to get out of treaties and other international agreements,

which the Trump administration ignored when it came to the Paris Agreement. It includes

things like the TikTok ban suspension, just about the first thing that happened in the Trump administration,

in which a law duly passed by Congress, was then, at least so he presented it as, suspended

by the president, not only with respect to saying, we're not going to prosecute on this because I can

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