The other day a late-night order, issued by U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan, blocked most Trump administration officials—including Musk and members of his cost-cutting initiative—from accessing sensitive Treasury records for at least a week while the case proceeds in the New York court.
Now while I’m not a lawyer, and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, I do have some cursory knowledge of the law.
Before I go any further I must parenthetically ask, “Does a judge need to be a lawyer and have gone to law school ?” I ask this because early in the first year of law school the law students that I am familiar with are instructed in the concept of “standing.”
From AI Overview:
In law, standing is the requirement that a party has a sufficient connection to a case to bring a lawsuit.
How does standing work?
* To have standing, a party must show they’ve been harmed by the law or action being challenged.
* Standing is a requirement of Article III of the U.S. Constitution.
* Standing is not about the merits of the case, but rather about the parties involved.
* A party must prove standing before the court will consider the merits of the case
As background, the decision was made after 19 state attorneys general sued the Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bissent
after DOGE was given access to the Treasury records. DOGE is an advisory body tasked to identify ways to reduce government spending.
As best I can tell the case brought by the 19 state attorneys does not have standing. because as of yet there has been no harm done (see above).
Hmmm!
BTW: What law school did Judge Engelmayer attend?
2/11/25