A federal judge Tuesday rules that Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency likely exercised unconstitutional authority “in multiple ways” in dismantling the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Theodore Chuang‘s ruling came in a case of 26 workers of the agency who sought to “delay a premature, final shutdown” of the agency while litigation continues.
In his order, he asked 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.
“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.
What’s next for USAID?
The White House and DOGE did not immediately respond to the court order but the administration is likely to challenge the order as shutting down USAID was not only Elon Musk’s brainchild but Donald Trump too called the USAID spending bogus.
This is not the first court order against Trump administration’s decision on USAID. Federal judge Amir H Ali earlier ruled that Trump overstepped his constitutional authority in freezing the USAID’s international work. But the judge did not order to revive the contracts.
