Q.: How Many Millions... Did Tangerine Cost The US Taxpayers, In "Resistance / Opposition Camp" Legal Fees, Alone?

We had long explained that most of his "fringe" executive actions and proclamations were well beyond the constitutional and statutory limits of his office. And when he targeted specific businesses and groups, those entities are granted broad authority (under federal statutes) to sue the US government to recover all the legal fees they spent defending themselves, from lawless federal and state government actions. Like. . . his.

The Tik-Tok / WeChat case was a particularly egregious abuse -- as it sought to target speech, and speakers, based on who was speaking (and the right to freely associate), based on the content of that speech (almost uniformly critical of, or mocking. . . Tangerine). See, Amendment, First.

So it is, that as the case was dismissed in late 2020, based on the Supremes' refusal to hear the matter -- that the companies are seeking to recover perhaps into the low millions of dollars in legal fees from all of us taxpayers -- for being stupid enough to have once elected a feckless executive branch employee. They will win -- and we will pay, thus:

. . .The parties are currently conferring regarding Plaintiffs’ request for fees and costs. On August 6, 2021, Plaintiffs submitted a written proposal regarding EAJA fees and costs to undersigned counsel for Defendants. At Defendants’ request, Plaintiffs submitted more detailed billing records and other information on August 19, 2021. Defendants are still working through that information, and have requested further information from Plaintiffs. Defendants anticipate responding to Plaintiffs’ proposal no later than September 28, 2021; however, such response will be based on the information provided to date. Any settlement would be subject to the required authorization processes within both the Department of Justice and the Department of Commerce. . . .

It would not be unreasonable to expect that all in, in legal fees alone, Trump cost US taxpayers over $100 million in four years. Much more, once we start tallying the settlements paid to victims of his lawless border policies. Disgusting -- but grinning, on a sunny Friday morning, just the same. He is gone -- and his "highly respected" Arizona audit confirms he lost that state. Hilarious.

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