(Photo
by
SAUL
LOEB/AFP
via
Getty
Images)
Elon
Musk
and
his
“CoD
waiting
room-cum-audit
team”
continue
their
clumsy
speedrun
through
the
federal
government.
Each
day
brings
another
comical
cockup
from
DOGE’s
teenaged
staff,
from
firing
all
the
people
in
charge
of
nuclear
weapons
to
casually
spawning
a
whole
army
of
foreign
intelligence
assets.
A
couple
of
weeks
ago,
the
DOGE
team
proudly-yet-accidentally
canceled
the
SEC’s
Westlaw
subscription
while
trying
to
punish
Reuters—never
bothering
to
check
if
they
were
even
the
same
thing,
let
alone
realizing
that
Westlaw
access
is,
you
know,
kind
of
essential
for
the
SEC’s
job.
Crackerjack
work,
guys!
While
chaste
by
virtue
of
women
with
self-respect,
the
DOGE
team
was
unchastened
by
the
SEC
experience
and
followed
up
by
cutting
off
government
access
to
another
essential
legal
resource:
This
is
extra
funny
given
that,
unlike
a
privately
owned
tool
Westlaw,
this
effort
to
reduce
government
spending
was
immediately
offset
because
PACER
is
a
government
revenue
stream.
PACER
should
be
free,
of
course.
It’s
a
slush
fund
for
the
judiciary
and
we’ve
already
tried
to
make
it
free
in
the
past
to
no
avail.
But
for
now
it
does
cost
and
the
Treasury
needs
access
to
it
in
order
to
run
the
various
cases
it’s
involved
in,
lest
it
ends
up
costing
the
government
even
more
money.
Something
that,
until
last
week,
was
so
obvious
that
no
one
even
thought
to
question.
And
that’s
what
makes
DOGE
the
biggest
legal
technology
story
going
right
now.
The
infrastructure
of
legal
research,
access
to
case
law,
and
the
basic
mechanics
of
litigation
are
increasingly
wrapped
up
in
digital
tools.
The
“Dunning-Kruger
Office
of
Government
Efficiency”
doesn’t
understand
legal
technology
and
they
don’t
even
realize
they
don’t
understand
it.
To
them,
Westlaw
and
PACER
are
just
line
items
to
slash.
Next
it’ll
be
the
eDiscovery
platform
or
the
contract
review
system.
And
then
—
like
the
looming
cancellation
of
Verizon’s
FAA
contract
to
be
replaced
by
Musk’s
Starlink
—
switched
out
for
some
shoddily
constructed
Musk
product
promising
to
do
the
job
just
as
well
because
he
fed
it
“all
court
cases.”
Then
Trump
will
decide
Bill
Gates
insulted
him
in
1996
and
the
government
loses
all
of
Microsoft’s
legal
tools.
And
when
the
government
ceases
to
have
functional
lawyering
products,
it
impacts
the
whole
industry.
Earlier:
Elon
Musk’s
DOGE
Can’t
Even
Secure
A
Website,
Let
Alone
The
Government
Trump
Cancels
The
SEC’s
Westlaw
Subscription
For
Probably
The
Dumbest
Possible
Reason
Elon
Musk
Feeds
AI
‘All
Court
Cases,’
Promises
It
Will
Replace
Judges
Because
He’s
An
Idiot
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or
Bluesky
if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
dose
of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
as
a
Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.