Are Californians Suing Themselves?
by Brent E. Zepke, Esq.
That statement may at first blush sound like a question from Fox’s Gutfeld TV show, where the response would be the flashing of a photo of the cast of the show The View.
However, Gutfeld is the highest ranked show in its time slot because many of its comments that at first seem so bizarre, turn out to be based on actual events. Can this be true for the question "Are Californians Suing Themselves?"
Consider, for example, the case of the State of New Mexico, et al, versus Elon Musk, DOGE, and President Trump et al, filed in the Federal District Court in D.C.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, in his Weekly Update for February 16, 2025, wrote about this lawsuit. “Mr. Musk occupies a position the President made up. This is a clear and dangerous effort to bypass the nomination and confirmation process required under the U.S. Constitution. He has unraveled federal agencies, accessed sensitive data, and caused widespread disruption for state and local governments, as well as critical systems that the American people rely on daily.”
Let’s consider the various aspect described by Rob Bonta.
The Plaintiffs
The plaintiff, or in this case the plaintiffs, are the ones who file lawsuits on behalf of clients. The case listed above was brought by the Attorneys General of 14 states. Besides A.G. Rob Bonta, the filing includes Nicholas R. Gren, Thomas S. Patterson, Mark R. Beckington, John D. Echeverria, Maria F. Buxton, and Michael E. Cohen, on behalf of Californians, including you and me.
Are we their clients?
Our legislative representative approved $50 million to sue Trump, and subsequently Governor Gavin Newsom approved $25 million, which we are funding through our highest-in-the-country state taxes.
When a state sues, its citizens are considered the plaintiffs.
Since Governor Newsom said that he would be filing similar lawsuits as “fast as we can write them,” there are reports that we taxpayers have already funded multiple lawsuits against President Trump.
The Defendants
Defendants are the ones for whom a lawsuit is filed against. In this case it includes “President Trump, in his official capacity as President of the United States,” as well as “U.S. DOGE Service,” which means the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) must defend this, and the other estimated 90+ similar lawsuits filed against the President by these same states.
We are funding the DOJ through our federal income taxes, which means we are the defendants.
The Complaint
The 60-page Complaint in the lawsuit California Attorney General filed on “our” behalf, begins: “There is not a greater threat to democracy than the accumulation of state power in the hands of a single, unelected individual. Although our constitutional system was designed to prevent the abuses of an 18th century monarch, the instruments of unchecked power are no less dangerous in the hands of a 21st-century tech baron.”
Besides the rather sarcastic comparison to “an 18th century monarch,” the main thrust seems to be to oppose power in “the hands of a single, unelected individual” who happens to be a “21st-century tech baron.” In our democracy, the president has the power to appoint someone, as President Biden did when appointing John Kerry "Climate Czar."
The Complaint Continues:
“In recent weeks, Defendant Elon Musk, with President Donald J. Trump’s approval, has roamed through the federal government unraveling agencies, accessing sensitive data, and causing mass chaos and confusion for state and local governments, federal employees, and the American people.”
As taught in creative writing, words such as “roamed” and “unraveling” convey action.
The “action” in this case is the auditing process of the U.S. Digital Services (USDS), created by President Barrack Obama, whose scope and name were changed by President Trump into the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Elon Musk was put in charge.
“Accessing sensitive data” is done every day by the employees of the agencies, and their “confusion” over their duties is a reason for the audit.
“Causing mass chaos" is anticipated when an organization, such as a federal agency, is audited for perhaps the first time to identify and address the employees who are not carrying out the Congressional intent of the Act they are administering.
What did the Attorneys General intend when filing this lawsuit?
Prayer For Relief
“Prayer for relief” is the expression used to indicate what the plaintiffs are asking the court to require the defendants to do.
In this case, the plaintiffs, the states, Attorneys General Prayer for relief includes a request that a temporary restraining order (TRO) be issued to stop the activities of the defendants, President Trump’s, Mr. Musk’s, and DOGE’s, until the court can force them to identify their methods, the data they collected, and to bar them and DOGE from certain activities, and to declare that any activities of DOGE “shall have no legal effect,” and “any future orders or directions by Mr. Musk of DOGE” have “no legal effect.”
The complaint requests that a court block the efforts of President Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE from auditing and taking the actions to make the Federal Government less costly to us, the taxpayers, as well as more responsive to the intentions of our elected congressional folks.
The Result
A.G. Rob Bonta's Weekly Update does not mention that we, California taxpayers, are suing ourselves, as federal taxpayers, to try to have a court require that we pay more in state and federal taxes for a less effective government.
Californians are suing themselves an estimated 90+ times in just the first month of the new presidential administration.
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The height of insanity. Let’s see, California society is imploding; Palisades inferno, crushing debt threatening our credit and bond ratings, out of control regulations, homelessness, millions of illegal migrants and home ownership out of reach for the vast majority. And yet, Newsom uses our tax dollars to go after the Trump administration for frivolous lawsuits. Along with his organ grinder monkey and AG, Bonta has made life in the Golden State unlivable.
Will this ever change or do people need to continue to flee from this insane asylum?
Tuesday night's circus is part and parcel with the partisan lawsuits outlined in Brent's intriquing analysis. Instead of licking their wounds post- Election 2024, the Democrat Party has further entrenched themselves in opposition politics to the extreme. RESIST. They do not serve their position well. Most troubling, the DNC is doing great harm to constituents and country. Case in point: When the gals in pink could not stand up for a black child who survived brain cancer, an incoming West Point cadet; the widow of a NYC police officer; a high school athlete permanently disabled by a bio male; and the 94 year old mother whose son was negotiated out of a Russian prison. Even the CNN pundits were appalled. Our task? For the GOP and Indys to get behind strong candidates who can run the cultists out of the halls of governance. NOW.