Clearly, there is no legal precedent for the executive branch to do a lot of what its done. Congress oversees of these agencies that are being storm-troopered by DOGE and close without due process. If a president wants to disestablish any one of them, he would in neatly all xases need Congress to make that happen.

What is unclear is whether DOGE, an unauthorized Executive Branch creation is legally empowered to do anything with congressionally established departments or agencies. Further, Congress has the sole power to appropriating funds to government's departments and their agencies. So, could the president legally create and fund and empower something like DOGE?

Clearly, there is no legal precedent for the executive branch to do a lot of what its done. Congress oversees of these agencies that are being storm-troopered by DOGE and summarily closed without due process. If a president wants to disestablish any one of them, he would in nearly all cases need Congress to make that happen.

What is unclear is whether DOGE, an unauthorized Executive Branch creation is legally empowered to do anything with congressionally established departments or agencies. Congress has the sole power to appropriate funds to departments and their agencies. So, could any president legally create and fund and empower something like DOGE?

Superficialky, it seems that the Jan. 20 Executive Order that created DOGE (www.whitehouse.gov) is legal even though DOGE takes for itself all the funds previously appropriated to the executive branch's US Digital Service (USDS) agency, because the first paragraphs imply this to be an organizational name change.

This is where DOGE's legality is questionable. The replacement of the Congressionally approved and funded USDS should be legally challenged on the grounds that the mission of DOGE is incredibly different from USDS's, which was to make federal agencies' software and internet systems more customer-friendly and effective. This isn't Trump's Executive Order's purpose for DOGE. What DOGE is doing is almost certainly not what any previous Congress appropriated budget funds to USDS to do.

Since the previous Congress ended its session under a continuing resolution, does this Executive Branch have power to repurpose USDS's mission and to use USDS's previously authorized funding?

Congress could challenge the misappropriation of USDS's funding and de-facto disestablishment of USDS with an entirely repurposed agency. But would the current (Trump-cowering) GOP-dominated Congress stand up to Trump when it finally approves a FY-2025 budget bill?

Congress will likely eventually pass an Omnibus spending bill and that Project 2025's creators will generally like and that Trump will sign into law.

So the only ways to erase DOGE from existence would include either: 1) explicit action by Congress to require DOGE to retake USDS's original mission in order for DOGE to be funded in this fmFY (fat chance!); or 2) for the courts to determine that DOGE is a misappropriation of funds specifically intended to carryout the mission of USDS. Could a Dem caucus file such a lawsuit without some GOP support? Probably, Congress's GOP majority might then retroactively pass a law approving the demise of USDS's mission and the reappropriation of 2025 funds to DOGE's mission? This is DEFINITELY what the Democratic leadership must force the GOP caucus into doing.

Why? Because, if a FY 2025 budget law is passed that misses the step to retroactively repurpose USDS's funds to serve DOGE's specifically & legally delineated purposes, call your senators & Congress members and insist that the administration be sued for misappropriating federal budget monies. It could eventually force Congress to vote on DOGE's new mission, which probably would not erase DOGE, but it would force it to be created legally by Congress and give Congress a say in its mission and give Congress oversight over USDS's successor entity.