US judge finds Musk's effort to dismantle USAID likely unconstitutional

WASHINGTON

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that efforts by a government task force led by Elon Musk to shutter the US Agency for International Development (USAID) likely ran afoul of the US Constitution and blocked the world's richest man from making further cuts to the US's international development agency.

US District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled in favor of 26 anonymous USAID staffers who sued Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Chuang ruled that the Musk-led effort likely violates the Constitution's Appointments Clause and separation of powers and granted in part the plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction.

"The court finds that Defendants' actions to shut down USAID on an accelerated basis, including its apparent decision to permanently close USAID headquarters without the approval of a duly appointed USAID Officer, likely violated the United States Constitution in multiple ways, and that these actions harmed not only Plaintiffs, but also the public interest, because they deprived the public's elected representatives in Congress of their constitutional authority to decide whether, when, and how to close down an agency created by Congress," Chuang wrote in his 68-page order.

He ordered DOGE to reinstate email and computer access as well as payments to all USAID employees, including those placed on leave. He further barred Musk's group from firing or placing any other USAID employees on administrative leave, cancelling any further USAID contracts or grants, closing any of the agency's bureaus or buildings, or further deleting contents on its website.

Questions have mounted over who is truly in charge of DOGE, but President Donald Trump has said publicly that Musk is the man leading the effort, and the tech mogul has boasted about his role and made public declarations that were later executed by the task force.

The White House has said DOGE is being led by Amy Gleason, a bureaucrat who was leading the executive predecessor group that DOGE grew out of, and has said Musk is just a presidential advisor. But Chuang said Musk's public statements have made clear that he has "firm control over DOGE."

He ordered DOGE and Musk not to take any further actions concerning USAID without the "express authorization" of a duly-appointed officer from within the agency, ruling that Musk's actions likely violate the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.

The section stipulates that a president, with the advice and consent of the Senate, "shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States."

"If a president could escape Appointments Clause scrutiny by having advisors go beyond the traditional role of White House advisors 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," Chuang wrote.