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zjmontague.bsky.social
Reporter @ NYT covering ed policy and long trials. Three-season outdoor enthusiast
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Whatever comes next in the NIH case, the hearing today made it clear how huge the medical/academic constituencies are opposing these cuts. And it would seem hard to dispute that some amount of irreparable harm has already happened to some number of parties involved.

"The level of access DOGE possesses means that the organization may already be able to siphon data that Musk or his agents could hold on to forever, long after his time as a government liaison, or even after a potential falling-out with the president."

Plaintiff unions seek discovery in a DOGE case. They want to ask, among other things, a fair question: Who's running it? storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... /1

REVEALED: we identified the operator of an overtly racist X account, "GlomarResponder," as ICE Assistant Chief Counsel James Rodden, based on an overwhelming number of biographical details matched through publicly available documents, other social media activity, and courtroom observation.

Colleges are under pressure from White House over diversity (DEI) but no big school has bent the shameful knee of obeying in advance harder or faster than Trump and Musk's alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania My new column on the strangling of academic freedom www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...

"We will protect DOGE." This morning, Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin — a "stop the steal" organizer and Jan. 6 defendant advocate — sent an email titled "Operation Whirlwind" in which he said he's personally launched an investigation into Sen. Chuck Schumer. The text:

Affidavits by DOGE workers and information officers from federal agencies have provided some of the only established details about DOGE’s methods and aims so far outside of what journalists have uncovered. Expect more to emerge as litigation continues.

JUST IN: Catholic Bishops sue over Trump suspension of refugee admissions. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Between the 14 states and 7 agencies involved in this case, not a stretch to imagine that Judge Chutkan finds some downstream harms that could convince her to grant a temporary injunction not long from now

They arrived at the United States border from around the world, hoping to seek asylum. Instead, they were detained, shackled and flown by the U.S. military to a faraway country, Panama. Our exclusive look at a new front in Pres. Trump’s immigration crackdown:

The Education Department has warned U.S. schools that they risked losing federal funding if they continued to take race into account when making scholarship or hiring decisions — or so much as nodded to race in “all other aspects of student, academic and campus life.”

Just to be clear, because I don’t think the Post story highlights it enough: This was Trump’s day-one pick to lead the Social Security Admin until his nominee got confirmed who RESIGNED a career job rather than do what Musk’s DOGE team wants. This is Treasury (DOGE) and DOJ (Adams) all over again.

TIL:

NEW non-clarifying clarifications about Elon Musk's employee status filed just now in a NM-led lawsuit: —Musk, as a presidential senior adviser, "has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself." He is also not DOGE's administrator. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Plenty of confusion over what this means for campuses. Most likely schools will have to see whether significant enforcement actions follow or if this is largely signaling.

The Trump official currently dismantling USAID was caught in a secret meeting with a group of pro-Russian separatists in the Balkans. Those he met with are under American sanctions for trying to restart the Bosnian war in the name of Christian nationalism. 1/

Dang I wonder which presidential adviser has a business that relies on minerals

SCOOP: Naval Academy leaders sent an email to faculty this week that teaching about “divisive concepts” such as systemic racism + sexism is no longer permitted. Faculty also can’t talk about environmental justice or gender ideology. Our exclusive: www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/hi...

Those diversity initiatives targeted by Trump 2.0? Some of them were promoted by Trump 1.0. “Diversity and inclusion are the cornerstones of high organizational performance,” Trump's education secretary wrote in 2020 memo to staff. Erica Green @ZJMontague.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/u...

Our colleagues at the @AP are the best in the business, total professionals and straight as they come. Since I started covering the White House in 1996, no president has punished a mainstay of the press pool to enforce his personal choice of what words they use in their stories.

Remarkable how Congress passed a law, the President signed it, the Supreme Court upheld it…and now everyone is simply pretending that all didn’t happen www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/t...

1. Scoop: DOGE staffers embedded in the Education Department plan a new role for generative A.I., interacting with kids and parents who have questions about student aid, and potentially replacing many human call center workers www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/u...

Hard to draw any conclusion from McMahon’s hearing today other than that major downsizing is coming to the Ed department

Linda McMahon’s confirmation hearing: “DEI is increasing segregation in our schools” “Long before there was a department of education, we fulfilled the programs of our education system” States will be “competitive” through voucher programs that beat out public schools

NEW: Trump’s feared DOJ enforcer has a secret: He, too, investigated Jan. 6 With @kendilanian-nbc.bsky.social: www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, is securing real beneifits as he helps Trump disrupt the federal government. Just how? The NYT takes a deep look today at these benefits: federal investigations targeting Musk companies that have been disrupted or now may die. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/u...

DOGE has cut nearly $1 billion in federal education research, affecting projects to understand challenges such as post-Covid academic recovery; disability issues; behavior problems; and the sharp rise in student absenteeism. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/u...

BREAKING: Federal judge blocks Trump administration move to immediately cap federal research grants overhead at 15%. Judge Angel Kelley in Boston, a Biden appointee, grants temporary restraining order. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/25... Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2025/02...

BREAKING: 22 states sue NIH over Trump administration's new 15% cap on overhead for federal research grants. Suit filed federal court in Boston contends lifesaving research 'will grind to a halt' under the policy. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Trump meme coin update: TRUMP: Over $100 million in trading fees THE PUBLIC: Over $2 billion in loses

From Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University: slate.com/life/2025/02...

NEW: The N.I.H. will cut about $4 Billion from federal research grants that support cancer, virus and heart disease research. #Project2025 called for the cuts to end subsidies to "leftist" university agendas. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/u...

1. Today the NIH director issued a new directive slashing overhead rates to 15%. I want to provide some context on what that means and why it matters. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

NEW: ProPublica has identified three lawyers with elite establishment credentials who’ve joined the DOGE effort. Two of their names haven’t been previously reported as working for the Elon Musk-led initiative. Here’s what we know about them:

NYT v Sullivan is one of the load-bearing pillars of press freedom in this country. Trump’s guys are taking an axe to it.

Breaking News: A federal judge suspended the deadline for federal workers to accept a buyout offer until at least Monday afternoon, when a hearing will be held.

On the heels of Trump’s order on transgender athletes yesterday, Ed launched three Title IX investigations into schools that already weathered some of the most heated debate: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/u...

JUST IN: a federal judge blocked OPM from imposing the midnight deadline for the “fork in the road” until a hearing on the merits on Monday at 2pm www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02...

Court orders Musk out of the Treasury computer payment systems until it can sort out whether the DOGE is a legal government entity.

Revisions are going to make tomorrow's jobs report confusing at best, and fertile ground for misinformation at worst. But they're an example of the system working -- and an illustration of why a robust federal statistical system is so important. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/b... #EconSky #NumbersDay

With all the focus on staff shakeups and purges, the Education Department under Trump has been making some quick policy moves. Today, it’s reverting to the Title IX rules from Trump’s previous term, after Biden’s title IX rules were blocked in court earlier this month:

Rather than ordering the Education Department to close down, as it seemed like he might this week, Trump instead just assigned it the main role in investigating and punishing schools that continue to allow transgender women and girls to participate in female sports www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/u...

!!! Musk, the world's richest man, heads to the Department of Ed, on his path to radically reshape the government. Here's our story! www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/u...

NEW: Staff in the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights were told to prioritize antisemitism investigations and brace for a department-wide review by DOGE to “increase efficiencies.” w/ @jsgatnyt.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/u...

Crucial angle on Elon Musk's takeover of Treasury's payment systems that people are missing: It's happening as a debt ceiling crisis looms, when you need nonpartisan people monitoring outgoing payments. Former Treasury and OMB officials explain this to me here: newrepublic.com/article/1910...

Lawyers for Justice Dept. employees threaten to sue, saying dismissals violate the law. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02...