by
Chip
Somodevilla/Getty
Images)
The
federal
funding
freeze
never
rested
on
anything
approaching
firm
legal
footing,
so
when
the
administration
swiftly
issued
a
retraction
before
Judge
McConnell
of
the
District
of
Rhode
Island
was
set
to
hear
the
matter,
that
seemed
to
be
the
end
of
this
farcical
episode.
But
it
was
actually
the
beginning
of
an
even
dumber
legal
strategy
that
has
now
imploded
like
one
of
Elon’s
rockets.
All
because
the
new
White
House
Press
Secretary
decided
to
head
to
social
media
to
brag
that
the
administration
would
never
back
down
and
appears
to
have
accidentally
admitted
that
the
administration
was
trying
to
defraud
the
court
all
along.
Oops.
That’s
the
Press
Secretary
explaining
that
they
really
only
retracted
the
memo
but
not
the
policy.
What
does
that
even
mean?
Nothing
coherent,
but
the
tea
leaf
reading
is
that
the
White
House
thought
that
it
could
bypass
the
court
challenge
if
they
just
removed
the
paper
trail.
Or
Leavitt
has
no
idea
what
she’s
doing
and
is
free
to
make
public
statements
on
behalf
of
the
administration
on
matters
before
the
courts
without
oversight
from
any
lawyers.
Either
way,
it
really
makes
you
wonder
if
any
attorneys
over
there
have
any
clue
what
they’re
doing.
And
it
didn’t
take
long
for
the
court
to
recognize
this
ploy
as
legally
meritless,
calling
out
Leavitt
specifically
in
the
process.
It’s
going
to
be
a
wild
few
years.
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.