First plans published
Supreme Court should help Musk with clear-cutting
11/21/2024 – 2:47 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Elon Musk wants to make the government more efficient. Now he is giving the first hints as to how this should happen.
The high-tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, appointed special advisor by the future US President Donald Trump, made public his plans for a radical restructuring of the government apparatus in the USA on Wednesday. Excessive bureaucracy is an “existential threat” to US democracy, according to an article published in the “Wall Street Journal” together with businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. “Now is the moment for decisive action.”
Tesla boss Musk wants to use the help of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that US authorities cannot make decisions on certain important economic and social issues without consulting Congress. In June, the Supreme Court also overturned a ruling that required courts to rely on authorities’ interpretation of the law. The Biden government has already felt the consequences: debt relief for students was canceled and a bill for paying overtime was passed. These decrees had not been approved by Congress. In Musk’s view, there are many federal regulations that go beyond what Congress has legislated.
Musk apparently wants to use the fundamental rulings as a basis to have thousands of regulations declared invalid. Musk and Ramaswamy expect lawsuits, but they are betting on Donald Trump. This could invalidate decisions made by authorities by decree. The legal protection of the public service prevents the president or his appointees from firing federal employees. However, in the opinion of the two businessmen, the law allows for staff cuts that are not directed against specific employees.
It also empowers the president to issue rules for the competition. Trump could use this far-reaching power to curb “the uncontrolled growth in the administration.”
The conditions for the Efficiency Commission, which Musk and Ramaswamy chair, are extremely good: the Republicans have the majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and six out of nine judges on the Supreme Court are considered conservative.
But there is skepticism: William Buzbee, a professor at Georgetown Law who specializes in administrative law, called Musk and Ramaswamy’s interpretation of recent Supreme Court cases “very convoluted.” He believes that none of the decisions limit the authorities’ powers as drastically as they claim.
Trump had appointed Musk, together with Ramaswamy, to head a “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), a new department for government efficiency. The two entrepreneurs are tasked with driving forward the restructuring of the government apparatus through concepts and recommendations. A significantly reduced government apparatus is expected to be in place by mid-2026.
“We will work as outside volunteers, not as federal officials or employees,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote. The consulting work of Musk, who is intertwined with government authorities in many ways through his companies SpaceX and Tesla, raises the question of massive conflicts of interest. In the end, this could lead to the entrepreneur practically promoting the abolition of authorities that regulate his companies.
