Politics and views in the United States.

The Supreme Court looks likely to expand presidential power over independent agencies, the Justice Department sues states to get voter registration data and legal aid groups struggle to keep staff amid increased ICE enforcement.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

You're asking us to destroy the structure of government and to take away from Congress its ability to protect its idea that the government is better structured with some agencies that are independent.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor questions the Trump administration's effort to fire a member of the Federal Trade Commission without cause.

That could upend 90 years of limits on presidential power over independent agencies, which regulate large parts of the economy and areas like campaign finance.

Government lawyers argue it will bring more accountability, and court conservatives look likely to agree.

President Donald Trump says he'll give $11 billion in aid to farmers struggling in his trade wars.

Farmers were already facing rising input costs and low commodity prices, with with some warning of the worst crisis in rural America since the 80s.

The Justice Department has now sued more than a dozen states for refusing to share their voter registration files, which include driver's license and partial Social Security numbers.

Rhode Island Secretary of State Greg Amore says the administration is undermining Americans' confidence in elections.

We don't know where this information is going.

We don't know if it'll be shared.

And so we take that responsibility seriously, and we believe it's in violation of federal law. says it's making sure states are keeping clean voter lists to avoid non-citizens voting, which all but never happens.

Legal aid groups say they're fighting low pay and burnout among their immigration lawyers.

ICE is now targeting Minnesota's Somali migrants, who Trump says are quote, "garbage."

Julie Decker with the Immigrant Law Center there says they're flooded with calls just as cases are becoming more time consuming.

There will always be more need than there is the ability to provide services. and the ramped up changes in immigration policy across the board has amplified that.

The developer of an app that alerts users to nearby ICE activity is suing justice after Attorney General Pam Bondi got Apple to remove it.

The government argues the ICE Block app puts officers' safety at risk, but its creators call it free speech.

Librarians are breathing a sigh of relief as a lawsuit is forcing the Trump administration to restore $160 million in previously allocated funds executive order signed in March gutted the Institute of Museum and Library Services, but a federal judge has declared that unlawful.

Anthony Chow is president of the California Library Association.

"A lot of people have been laid off, a lot of projects have been dismantled, so while we're excited that the funds are returned, there is a little bit of skepticism in terms of whether it might be taken away again."

He says libraries are still struggling with the loss of blocked funds designed for digital skills training and workforce development.

I'm Katherine Carley for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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