Prepare to reverse the previous Administration's litigation positions
What the document says“including recommendations for reconsidering or reversing positions of the previous Administration in any significant litigation”
The chapter says the White House Counsel must come up to speed quickly on significant ongoing legal challenges across the executive branch and be ready at the outset to recommend to the President which of the previous Administration's litigating positions to reconsider or reverse, consulting new political leadership at the Justice Department during the transition.
What the document actually says“including recommendations for reconsidering or reversing positions of the previous Administration in any significant litigation”
This should include advice on the big court cases. The last president picked a side in them. The new one may want to switch sides.
The government is always in court cases. The last president chose what side to argue. This chapter says the new president's lawyers should be ready on day one. They should say which of those court positions to change.
Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government
2025-01-20 · 90 FR 8235
Executive Order 14147 directs the Attorney General to review the civil and criminal enforcement activities of every department and agency over the previous four years, and to report to the President through the Counsel to the President with recommendations for remedial action, which routes a review of the prior Administration's legal actions through the office the passage assigns the task to. The fit breaks down because the review is conducted by the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence rather than by the Counsel, because it is limited to conduct the order describes as weaponization rather than covering significant litigation generally, and because it addresses enforcement actions brought by the government rather than the positions the government takes in defending suits.
The order tells the Attorney General to review four years of law work at every agency. He must send fixes to the President through the White House lawyer. The book wanted that lawyer to run the review. The order covers only what it calls weaponized acts. It looks at cases the government brought, not at stands it took when sued.
42 court cases
- United States v. ZinnelDistrict Court, E.D. California · April 2, 2021
- United States v. ZinnelDistrict Court, E.D. California · June 6, 2021
- LIBERTY VOTE HOLDINGS INC. v. BYRNEDistrict Court, District of Columbia · August 10, 2021
- Priester v. Puerto Rico Department of HealthDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico · January 19, 2022
- HERITAGE FOUNDATION v. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICEDistrict Court, District of Columbia · September 7, 2022
- United States v. WHITEHEADDistrict Court, S.D. New York · December 15, 2022
- United States v. WHITEHEADDistrict Court, S.D. New York · December 15, 2022
- Ivanovskis v. Federal Bureau of InvestigationDistrict Court, E.D. Texas · June 8, 2023
34 more not listed here.
Each of these names the order above in its own summary, preamble or filing. That is a fact about the document, not a finding that it carries out this proposal: it is one step further away than the order is, and what it does about the proposal is a reading nobody has made here.