In 1801 a man named William Marbury, a successful businessman and Federalist Party supporter, was appointed justice of the peace in the District of Columbia by outgoing Federalist President John Adams. Adams was bitterly disappointed to have lost the Presidential election to his old friend Thomas Jefferson.  The justice of the peace position was particularly desirable for Marbury because it offered a degree of political influence and social prestige in the still new national capital. Also, it provided Marbury with a stable government job and a guaranteed income.   For Federalists like Marbury and Adams, these positions represented an opportunity to maintain some control locally as their party was losing power at the national level.   An influential government job is precisely at the heart of Chapter 3 of Project 2025.  The entire chapter is about managing government workers and the bureaucracy of personnel administration.  It's like An Ode to Civil Service without any poetry, passion, or frankly, appeal whatsoever.  

The authors' main argument is to highlight the weaknesses in the bureaucracy that manages and maintains these government jobs.  I was surprised to learn that there are 2 million federal employees today. (Mandate, p. 78). That does seem like a lot of people, in a very big government that serves a very big country.  

My colleague, Dr. Phil Gussin, has  written superbly about Project 2025 and Civil Service Reform.  Presidents from Adams, to Jackson, to Trump have wanted to staff government positions with like-minded constituents - a "spoils system." 

In the 1970s, Carter tried to reset the basic structure of government personnel.  Reagan continued on Carter's work and most subsequent presidents seem to have tried in one way or another to scrutinize the hiring and appraising of federal employees.   Project 2025 suggests, "Today, the federal government’s bureaucracy cannot even meet its own civil service ideals. The merit criteria of ability, knowledge, and skills are no longer the basis for recruitment, selection, or advancement, while pay and benefits for comparable work are substantially above those in the private sector. Retention is not based primarily on performance, and for the most part, inadequate performance is not appraised, corrected, or punished." (Mandate, p.83). Does anyone else worry that "merit" could be interpreted to mean "party politics?"  Just me?  I'll keep going....

The upshot of this chapter is that the national government should downsize, do less, decentralize, and privatize as many of these bureaucratic jobs as possible to ensure the government runs effectively.  Ok.  I frankly don't have enough knowledge or the manpower to do all the research required to verify all of the claims here.  But I'll focus on one thing - something Project 2025 calls "burrowing-in."  This seems to be the process of top-level career position hiring by outgoing political appointees. (Mandate, p.79).  

President John Adams, in an attempt to secure Federalist influence before leaving office, appointed Marbury along with 41 other "midnight judges" on March 3, 1801, his last full day as president. So Adams "burrowed."  But when Jefferson took office, in true Jefferson form, he instructed his good friend James Madison not to deliver Marbury's commission to the new job.  This led to the landmark Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison, which established the principle of judicial review in American constitutional law.

So presidents burrow, they spoils, they hire people that think like they do.  (Don't tell anyone I just made the "spoils system" a verb.). Project 2025 argues that "Modern progressive politics has simply given the national government more to do than the complex separation-of-powers Constitution allows." (Mandate, 83)  So less bureaucracy at the Federal level and more power to local and state positions.  

That formula didn't pan out for Marbury, but, you know, Project 2025 can hope.  

P.S. - If I were a government employee, Chapter 3 would really tick me off.  

Campbell, Alan K. “Civil Service Reform: A New Commitment.” Public Administration Review 38, no. 2 (1978): 99–103. https://doi.org/10.2307/976281 

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/marbury-v-madison