“In a court filing submitted in late December as part of a lawsuit contesting the status of Trump administration officials serving unconfirmed in “temporary” positions, lawyers with the U.S. Justice Department argued the case should be tossed out because the issue would soon “be moot” given that President Donald Trump lost the 2020 elections and would soon leave the Oval Office.
The DOJ filing (pdf) itself, dated December 23, was in response to a lawsuit brought by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) which argued that the service of top officials at the National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management was unlawful because they were appointed by Trump and continued to lead the agencies without Senate confirmation—a direct violation of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act (FVRA). The officials named in the lawsuit are Margaret Everson at the Park Service and William Pendley at BLM.”
