The big question at the heart of the debate over DOGE is whether the federal government exists for the sake of the people or for the sake of federal employees and contractors.

Yet another D.C. judge in yet another abusive Administrative Procedure Act (APA) case has ruled that the government exists for the sake of federal employees.

Responding to the APA lawsuit filed on behalf of VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara, and, even more outrageously on behalf of contractors with anti-American leftist groups such as Reporters Without Borders, the D.C. judge’s ruling falsely claimed that the Trump administration’s actions were a violation of the APA by being “arbitrary and capricious” because “the Networks have contributed to U.S. international broadcasting by almost exclusively relying on their yearly congressional appropriations, which have been uninterrupted for decades before March 15, 2025. There is no sign that the defendants considered these longstanding reliance interests before taking the sweeping actions at issue here.”

That’s a lie. Like every other APA ruling, the judge knows that’s a lie. The Trump admin was pretty clear about its goals and policies. Agree or disagree with them, its rationale was clear and it entirely understood that by cutting funds, it was shutting down organizations that it wanted shut down.

“In short, the defendants had no method or approach towards shutting down USAGM that this Court can discern. They took immediate and drastic action to slash USAGM, without considering its statutorily or constitutionally required functions as required by the plain language of the EO, and without regard to the harm inflicted on employees, contractors, journalists, and media consumers around the world. It is hard to fathom a more straightforward display of arbitrary and capricious actions than the Defendants’ actions here,” the judge ruled.

This is a ruling that starts out by quoting that, “The following day, on March 15, 2025, the White House published an article entitled “The Voice of Radical America,” which states: “President Donald J. Trump’s [EO] on Friday will ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda.” USAGM also posted an update on its website stating: “This agency is not salvageable. From top-to-bottom this agency is a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer—a national security risk for this nation—and irretrievably broken. While there are bright spots within the agency with personnel who are talented and dedicated public servants, this is the exception rather than the rule.”

The rationale and the agenda and the method are not only clear, they were quoted in the ruling.

There may be a legal argument when it comes to congressional appropriations and the status of USAGM, which may need to exist, but not in its current form, but there is no APA argument here.

The abuse of the APA is a judicial coup as I wrote earlier.

The Administrative Procedure Act had been created in response to the rise of a vast unaccountable government bureaucracy under FDR. The APA was supposed to stop the administrative state from turning into exactly the kind of self-governing machine it grew into which FDR had described as threatening to “develop a fourth branch of government for which there is no sanction in the Constitution.” It was not meant to block presidents from executing their policies or subject every one of those policies to the review of the D.C. Circuit Court.

The D.C. Circuit Court however has enabled every leftist ‘resistance’ group to go ‘judge shopping’ and file APA complaints to block anything and everything President Trump does.

But at least one D.C. judge went on the record as admitting that the government exists for the sake of federal employees and contractors, not for the sake of the American people.

When democratically elected leaders are shown to have no authority over federal employees, it’s all too clear that it’s the administrative state that rules the American people, not the other way around. And if we’re going to have it that way, Democrats should stop talking about democracy and just admit they’re an oligarchy.