Injustice for All is a weekly series about how the Trump administration is trying to weaponize the justice system—and the people who are fighting back.
But what about the white farmers??
Adam Faust, a white dairy farmer in Wisconsin, is suing the administration because it isn’t being quite racist enough. No, really.
Faust’s lawsuit alleges that there are still United States Department of Agriculture programs that favor minorities and that he is being discriminated against because of his race and sex. Yes, the Trump administration has apparently failed to eliminate every last trace of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and Faust is on it.
If you want to know how petty some of this lawsuit is, one of Faust’s complaints is that he has to pay a $100 annual fee to participate in the Dairy Margin Coverage Program, but “socially disadvantaged farmers” are exempt. Of course, Faust’s lawsuit neglects to mention that he’s received $106,139 from that program in the last six years. All told, Faust has netted over $215,000 in subsidies since 2004.
This isn’t Faust’s first rodeo. In 2021, he won a lawsuit against the Biden administration because he was sad about a COVID-era farm loan forgiveness program for socially disadvantaged farmers who did not receive COVID-19 farm loan relief funds. Guess who did get $20,000 in Paycheck Protection Program funds during COVID, and guess who got that all forgiven by the government including interest?
Faust isn’t alone in this racist crusade. Stephen Miller’s America First Legal sued the Biden administration over loan forgiveness in 2021 as well. Miller is furious that the government sought to rectify the longstanding discrimination against Black farmers. Watching people like Faust and Miller whine about how oppressed white farmers are falls flat when you learn that 95% of farmers in the country are white.
Judge William Young calls it like it is
U.S. District Judge William Young, an 84-year-old Reagan appointee, read the administration the riot act during a Monday hearing about cuts to the National Institutes of Health funding. Young is presiding over two lawsuits challenging the termination of hundreds of NIH grants that had funded research on things like racial health disparities, gender-affirming care, and reproductive health.
The administration has not been subtle about its motivation for these funding cuts. Any research that focuses on non-white populations is the real racism. Any research that focuses on LGBTQ+ health or gender identity is unscientific because it does not “seriously examine biological realities.”
According to the administration, these projects were “often unscientific” or were “unlawful discrimination,” and that’s why they were terminated. But whenYoung asked the government’s attorney to identify even one terminated grant that was unscientific or discriminatory, the answer was, “There’s nothing I can point the court to.”
This did not turn out well for the government. Young ordered the administration to restore funding immediately, but he didn’t stop there. He said that in his 40 years on the bench, “I’ve never seen government racial discrimination like this.” Regarding cuts to LGBTQ+ research, he said it was “palpably clear” that the cuts were “designed to frustrate, to stop research that may bear on the health … of Americans, of our LGBTQ community. That’s appalling.”
Predictably, the administration is whining about how unfair it is for a judge ever to say anything that isn’t a full-throated endorsement of the government’s actions. White House spokesperson Kush Desai said that it was “appalling that a federal judge would use court proceedings to express his political views and preferences.”
Only in Trump’s world would a judge’s statement about upholding fundamental constitutional rights be described as “political views and preferences.”
Finally, a court finds the attorney general in contempt
… the attorney general of Florida, that is.
Earlier this year, Florida passed a law making it a crime for any undocumented adult to enter or reenter the state, and imposing mandatory prison time. One big problem: immigration is wholly regulated at the federal level, which is why U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams granted the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order, finding they were likely to prevail.
That order barred the state from enforcing the law, but Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sent a memo to state law enforcement agencies saying, “It is my view that no lawful, legitimate order currently impedes your agencies from continuing to enforce Florida’s new illegal entry and reentry laws.” He also told law enforcement agencies that he couldn’t stop them if they decided to enforce the law anyway.
Uthmeier’s nonsense here is straight out of the Trump administration playbook, which has made a habit of refusing to follow lower court orders. Unfortunately for Uthmeier, Williams wasn’t inclined to give him the infinite number of chances that the courts keep giving federal attorneys and officials. Uthmeier’s attempt to say he was following the order, just in his own special, unique way, fell flat because he kept making public statements about how he wasn’t going to follow it and didn’t believe it was legitimate.
Williams found Uthmeier in civil contempt, requiring him to provide regular updates to the court on whether any detentions or other actions have occurred under the blocked state law. If Uthmeier doesn’t comply, Williams may impose additional sanctions, including fines.
Baby steps, but we’ll take it.
Another month, another impoundment violation
The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, unlike the pretend Department of Government Efficiency, is an actual agency, charged with ensuring that federal funds are spent appropriately. On Monday, the GAO issued a report concluding that the administration violated the Impoundment Control Act by withholding funds Congress had allocated to the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
In theory, this should be a huge deal, something Congress would be up in arms about because they have the power of the purse, not the president. However, Congress seems to have abdicated that role, content to let Trump do whatever he wants. So, it falls to the GAO to tell the administration they’re breaking the law. Not that it matters to the administration.
Last month, the GAO concluded that the Department of Transportation illegally impounded billions of dollars when it clawed back funding Congress had allocated for electric vehicle chargers. The administration just shrugged it off, saying it was rejecting the GAO’s conclusion. It hardly even seems worth mentioning that the GAO’s findings can’t really be ignored, as this administration is excellent at ignoring things it doesn’t like.
Blast from the past: George Papadopoulos
George Papadopoulos was one of the more pathetic characters in the investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election. After Papadopoulos pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to FBI agents, Trump described him as a “young low-level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar.” Time must have healed some wounds, though, as Trump pardoned Papadopoulos in 2020.
After toiling in relative obscurity for a few years, Papadopoulos is back in the news, but probably not for the reasons he’d prefer. A Florida company, Prestige Bunkers, is suing Papadopoulos and his wife, Simona Mangiante, after Papadopoulos allegedly failed to fulfill his obligations as an “energy advisor,” for which Papadopoulos was paid $20,000 per month. He then convinced the company to form a nonprofit, telling them he could connect them with big donors thanks to his past political work and his fundraising experience.
You’d think that the company would be aware of how Papadopoulos’ past political work turned out, but they created the nonprofit anyway. Then, the complaint alleges, Papadopoulos and his wife spent all their time working on their own nonprofit instead and diverted Prestige’s funds to their own nonprofit. Inexplicably, the company also appears to have continued paying Papadopoulos $20,000 each month to do nothing.
The whole thing feels tacky and low rent, the kind of grift that wouldn’t even make the papers if it weren’t Papadopoulos doing the grifting. But since Papadopoulos wasn’t rewarded with a cushy job in the second Trump administration, he’s gotta make a living somehow.