Judges are pausing Trump policy changes. But for how long? | The Excerpt
On Saturday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: Paste BN Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer takes a look at some of the pushback in the courts to the Trump administration's early moves. President Donald Trump says Elon Musk's next DOGE targets are the Pentagon and Education Department. The Coast Guard finds the missing plane in Alaska and all 10 on board are believed dead. The New York governor shuts down poultry markets after several cases of bird flu were detected in New York City. Paste BN Sports Video Executive Producer Christine Conetta gives us a look at her team's coverage of the build-up to the Super Bowl in this week's edition of Editor's Note.
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and today is Saturday, February 8th, 2025. This is the Excerpt. Today, how some of Trump's early moves have hit snags in the courts, plus Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency will be coming for the Pentagon and Department of Education. And we take a look at how Paste BN Sports has covered the build up to tomorrow's Super Bowl.
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President Donald Trump's rapid-fire efforts to remake and downsize the federal government have hit a bit of a speed bump in the courts. I caught up with Paste BN domestic security correspondent, Josh Meyer, for more.
Howdy, Josh.
Josh Meyer:
Hey, Taylor.
Taylor Wilson:
So, Josh, let's just start with this. What have we seen, especially in recent days, when it comes to some of Trump's policy changes really hitting snags in the courts?
Josh Meyer:
Trump has come out fast and furious in his efforts to remake and downsize the federal government, especially with the help of Elon Musk, and they've hit a bit of a speed bump. He did issue a fairly stunning number of executive orders and other actions in his first weeks in office, but those have generated more than 30 lawsuits now. And some of them have hit the courts, and the judges are not reacting perhaps in the way Trump wants it. Some of them are issuing injunctions saying they need to take a closer look at it. We have to wait and see what happens next.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, you mentioned Elon Musk, the Department of Government Efficiency and Musk himself have been really at the heart of a lot of this legal pushback, right, Josh? What's the latest here specifically?
Josh Meyer:
Well, the judges have pumped the brakes on a couple of things. One was Trump's efforts to freeze spending, government spending, another was to cull the federal workforce or eliminate thousands of jobs, a third was to end automatic citizenship, otherwise known as birthright citizenship for children born in the US, and a fourth was to send transgender women to men's prisons. So, these have really prompted a barrage of lawsuits. A lot of government watchdog groups have filed suit, and even just plaintiffs and employee unions have all pushed back pretty hard.
Taylor Wilson:
Josh, maybe stating the obvious here, but why are the courts a particularly important lever for Trump critics or opponents to lean on considering this full Republican control on Capitol Hill?
Josh Meyer:
Well, yeah, that's a good point, Taylor. I mean, I think that you might be looking at the only part of the government that's pushing back. I mean, there's a system of checks and balances, as we all learned in school, that each branch of government is supposed to be a check on the others. And at this point, because the legislature is basically controlled by the Republicans who are supporting Trump, the court system is the one that's really going to be a check and balance on this stuff.
A lot of these cases are expected to go up to the Supreme Court, which has a pro-Trump majority, but some of them could be decided on a lower case basis. One judge out in Seattle, Judge John Coughenour, said Thursday that he issued a two-week stay for birthright citizenship saying that it could continue, but also then made it permanent at least until this has been adjudicated. Coughenour was appointed by Reagan, so this doesn't necessarily fall on partisan lines.
Taylor Wilson:
How does the Trump administration itself use some of these recent judge decisions, Josh, and do they feel they'll still ultimately be successful in the courts?
Josh Meyer:
Yeah. I mean, I talked to the White House about it and the response I got from them, this is from Harrison Fields who's the principal deputy White House press secretary, and he said every action taken by the Trump-Vance administration is fully legal and compliant with federal law. And then when it came to DOGE and some of the other efforts, he said, "Any legal challenge against it is nothing more than an attempt to undermine the will of the American people who overwhelmingly elected President Trump to secure the border, revitalize the economy, and restore common-sense policies."
So, mind you though that that doesn't have anything to do with whether they're illegal or not. Just because Trump was elected by a majority of the American people doesn't mean that whatever he does is necessarily legal. So, that's what the courts are there for, to interpret this and see where we go from here.
Taylor Wilson:
Let's backtrack a few years, Josh. What was Trump's record really like through the courts during his first term?
Josh Meyer:
He had a mixed record his first time around, especially at the Supreme Court. But although the court's makeup was a little different then, it wasn't as much of a majority, but it took the president three times, for example, three tries, for example, before the court approved a version of his ban on travel from specific nations, including five mainly Muslim countries. You might recall that was known as the Muslim ban. And despite appointing three justices to the Supreme Court during his first term, Trump's administration had the worst record at the Supreme Court of any administration since at least the Roosevelt administration, according to data developed by law professors in an article published in Presidential Studies Quarterly.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. So, just in terms of what's next here, Josh, I know a lot of this is moving through the courts. Are we just in kind of wait in see mode? I mean, where do you see this going from here?
Josh Meyer:
So, there was a hearing late Friday on the USAID injunction where Trump and Musk are essentially trying to shut down the US Agency for International Development. But this is going to be on a rolling basis. I believe there's going to be more hearings next week, and we'll just have to sort of take each one and see what happens.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Josh Meyer covers domestic security for Paste BN. Thank you, Josh.
Josh Meyer:
My pleasure.
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Taylor Wilson:
After dismantling the US Foreign Aid Office, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency will be coming for the Pentagon and Department of Education, President Trump said yesterday. The education department has long been a target for conservatives who want to see it abolished, and it was clear before Trump's comments that Musk was going after the agency. A top official at the department told staffers in a meeting earlier this week that DOGE was examining its operations.
Cutting military spending could face more GOP resistance, but about 13% of the federal budget, or $872 billion, goes toward defense spending according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. That makes it a prime target for potential cost savings.
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Search crews found a downed plane carrying 10 people that went missing along Alaska's western coast after rapidly losing altitude and speed, authorities said yesterday. Lieutenant Commander Mike Salerno, a spokesperson for the US Coast Guard, said everyone aboard the plane is presumed to be dead. Salerno told reporters that a Coast Guard helicopter located the wreckage and lowered two rescue swimmers to investigate. The plane was found about 34 miles from the city of Nome where it was headed. The turboprop Cessna Caravan operated by Bering Air was reported missing Thursday afternoon, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety.
The incident comes as US air travel and aviation faces increased scrutiny following the collision of a passenger plane and a military helicopter outside Washington DC that killed 67 people, and the crash of a medevac jet in Philadelphia that killed seven people and injured more than 20 others.
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New York Governor Kathy Hochul yesterday announced the closure of live poultry markets in New York City and three counties after seven cases of bird flu were detected at markets in the city during routine inspections. The shutdown to prevent the spread of the highly pathogenic avian influenza is set to remain in effect through February 14th. Hochul said markets must disinfect and undergo a state health inspection before they can reopen. Experts say there's low risk to the general public, with a few exceptions.
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America turns its attention to the Super Bowl tomorrow as the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs, and it's one of the biggest days of the year for our colleagues from Paste BN Sports. For more on the week leading up to the game and how our editors and reporters covered it, I spoke with Paste BN Sports video executive producer, Christine Conetta. Christine, thank you for joining me today.
Christine Conetta:
Hey, no problem. Excited to be here.
Taylor Wilson:
So, Radio Row for the Super Bowl is really the tent pole media event leading up to the actual game. Tell us what this is for folks maybe not in the sports or football world, not familiar here, and how big of an event really, Christine, this represents in your coverage leading up to the game.
Christine Conetta:
Yeah. So, at almost every sports tent pole, there's always some kind of media day, but nothing is to the scale of Radio Row at the Super Bowl for the NFL every year. With the NFL, it typically lasts about four days, and it's an opportunity for just about any athlete to speak with almost every sports media outlet out there about anything happening in sports.
And just to give some more perspective on how big this is, we prepared for 48 interviews this year across the span of four days. So it is huge, it is an insane event, and it takes a lot of coordination to be able to pull it off.
Taylor Wilson:
Wow. 48 interviews, that sounds like a ton. How do you prepare, really, Christine for that many conversations so quickly?
Christine Conetta:
So, a lot of prep goes into this for sure. So, we usually try to break it up by creating a list of topics and questions that can be applied to almost everyone that we've booked, and then we'll go back and then we'll tailor questions to each guest and we'll try to nail down two or three that apply to just them or their teams or their career specifically.
Taylor Wilson:
And who stood out from Radio Row this year? Was it about the current Eagles or Chiefs, or were the interviews with NFL alums or other non-sports folks kind of the most interesting?
Christine Conetta:
I always think that the most fun tends to come from other athletes who are, they're playing in the NFL, but they're not actually playing in the Super Bowl. These are the big names that we see every Sunday, but this time they're just showing up as guests. So, it's usually pretty fun. I would say one of my favorites for this year was talking to Bengals quarterback, Joe Burrow. He was very honest with us about his season, his stats for the season, and if he deserved the MVP award.
Taylor Wilson:
And where did he land? I'm assuming he felt like he did deserve it. Yeah.
Christine Conetta:
He felt like he did. And he also was not afraid to say he did not think he was going to get it. So, spoiler alert, if anybody who has not seen the NFL Honors yet.
Taylor Wilson:
Yes, Josh Allen. So, Christine tomorrow, will you be in New Orleans for the game in person and just what stay of coverage look like for you and your team overall?
Christine Conetta:
Yeah. So, unfortunately I will not be there. We will have a small crew on the ground at Caesars Superdome. They're the lucky ones. They get to be on site for all the spectacular coverage. So, they'll be able to sit in the press box to watch all the National Anthem, all the way down to halftime show. And then of course they'll be providing the post-game coverage and NFL off season look ahead coverage. That always performs really well for us.
And the Super Bowl has just become such a big event for Paste BN. It doesn't just fan sports anymore. There's a lot of life, news, entertainment coverage that's all intertwined into this one major event. So my job, I'll be at home, but my job is going to be to make sure that I'm coordinating with all the other teams on Sunday night.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Christine Conetta is an executive producer with Paste BN Sports Video. Thank you so much, Christine. Looking forward to the coverage.
Christine Conetta:
Oh, thank you.
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Taylor Wilson:
Our forests are home to some of the oldest living organisms on earth, but they're facing a variety of threats from climate change to wildfires.
Ethan Tapper:
The fact is that our ecosystems are dealing with these profound legacies of the way they've been managed in the past, these profound threats and stressors in the present, and then this future that promises challenges like never before.
Taylor Wilson:
That's forester and author, Ethan Tapper. In his recent book, How to Love a Forest, Ethan shares his passion for woodlands while calling on all of us to become better guardians. You can hear his conversation with my colleague, Dana Taylor, right here beginning at 5:00 AM Eastern Time tomorrow.
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And thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your pods. And if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back Monday with more of the Excerpt from Paste BN.