May 15, 2026 · policy_change
HHS notifies hundreds of senior employees they've been reclassified into Schedule PC
The Department of Health and Human Services notified hundreds of senior employees via internal email on May 15, 2026 that they were being reclassified into Schedule Policy/Career, stripping them of civil service job protections and converting them to at-will status. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s department confirmed the email's authenticity and said the reclassifications reflected the finalization of previously announced reductions in force. The initial tranche affected employees on the order of hundreds, not thousands, with HHS officials indicating additional tranches would follow. Workers who previously could only be fired for cause with the right to challenge the termination before the Merit Systems Protection Board can now be dismissed without stated reasons or appeal rights.
May 7, 2026 · court_ruling
Judge rules DOGE cancellation of NEH grants unconstitutional
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon ruled on May 7, 2026, that DOGE-directed cancellations of more than 1,400 National Endowment for the Humanities grants were "unlawful, unconstitutional, ultra vires, and without legal effect," finding violations of the First Amendment, the Fifth Amendment's equal protection clause, and the NEH's statutory authority. Discovery revealed DOGE used ChatGPT to flag grants containing words like "history," "culture," and "identity" as DEI violations. The judge ordered grant termination letters rescinded but did not immediately require payment of funds.
May 1, 2026 · regulatory_action
FTC settles with Media Matters and agrees not to reinvestigate
The Federal Trade Commission settled its litigation with Media Matters in May 2026 after courts found the agency violated the First Amendment by retaliating against the nonprofit for its reporting on Elon Musk's X. Under the settlement terms, the FTC agreed to never reissue or issue a substantially similar civil investigative demand to Media Matters, stated in writing that Media Matters is not a target of any investigation, and agreed that any future litigation would occur in D.C. Media Matters called it a complete and total victory.
Apr 29, 2026 · policy_change
DOGE directs USDA to cancel $2.5B in rural and research grants
DOGE directed the Department of Agriculture to cancel approximately $2.5 billion in grants on April 29, 2026, targeting rural broadband, nutrition research, agricultural extension, and conservation programs. Rural Republican lawmakers joined Democrats in criticizing the cuts, which threatened $300 million in land-access programs for underserved farmers and disrupted conservation technical assistance across 40 states. Legal challenges were immediately filed arguing the cancellations violated the Impoundment Control Act.
Apr 28, 2026 · executive
GAO finds Treasury skipped security rules granting DOGE access to federal payment systems
The Government Accountability Office releases a report finding that the Treasury Department's Bureau of Fiscal Service failed to follow basic IT security protocols when granting DOGE employees access to three federal payment systems in January and February 2025. The systems manage tax refunds, government salaries, Social Security, and other payments affecting millions of Americans.
GAO finds that one DOGE employee — whose details match public reporting on Marko Elez — received access to view, copy, and print data from all three systems without completing required security training or signing the bureau's "rules of behavior" policy. The employee was also temporarily and accidentally granted the ability to modify and delete data in one of the systems. GAO finds no evidence data was changed.
GAO also finds that Elez sent an unencrypted file containing personal information on 350 USAID payment recipients to two DOGE associates at the General Services Administration without obtaining agency approval, a probable security incident under Treasury rules. Treasury's data loss prevention tools did not detect or block the transmission. GAO issues multiple recommendations, which Treasury partially accepts. It is one of the first GAO reports released on DOGE''s government-wide data access practices.
