A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) likely exercised unconstitutional authority “in multiple ways” in dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang’s ruling in favor of 26 current and former U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) workers seeks to “delay a premature, final shutdown” of the agency while litigation continues.
His order requires DOGE to reinstate email and system access to current USAID employees and blocks DOGE personnel from taking “any actions relating” to the agency, without express permission of a USAID official with legal authority.
It marks the first time a judge has ruled that Musk is likely exercising enough independent authority to require him to be confirmed by the Senate under the Constitution’s Appointments Clause.
“The record of his activities to date establishes that his role has been and will continue to be as the leader of DOGE, with the same duties and degree of continuity as if he was formally in that position,’” wrote Chuang, an appointee of former President Obama.
Chuang rejected the Trump administration’s argument that Musk is not the DOGE administrator and is instead merely a senior adviser to the president who has no independent authority.
“If a president could escape Appointments Clause scrutiny by having advisors go beyond the traditional role of White House advisers who communicate the president’s priorities to agency heads and instead exercise significant authority throughout the federal government so as to bypass duly appointed officers, the Appointments Clause would be reduced to nothing more than a technical formality,” the judge wrote.
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