On March 18, a federal judge ruled that Elon Musk, while implementing the Department of Government Efficiencies (DOGE) mandate to cut waste, abuse and fraud in government operations, acted unconstitutionally when rolling back funding and cutting positions at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) last month.
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang has imposed a preliminary injunction requiring the Trump administration to restore email services and computer access to all employees at the agency, including those who were placed on administrative leave.
Chuang, who was nominated to the bench under the Obama administration, also stipulated that Musk and DOGE cannot take any action against USAID without “express authorization” from an official from the agency.
In the 68-page ruling, Chuang wrote, “The court finds that Defendants’ unilateral actions to shut down USAID likely violated the United States Constitution,” and gave the White House seven days to confirm it had restored email and computer privileges to employees of USAID.
The judge also said that it must be ensured that USAID employees “will be able to reoccupy USAID headquarters at its original location.”
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Chuang’s ruling is a hefty blow to DOGE’s progress to date. The changes at USAID represented at least $60 billion in cuts, or around 92 percent of USAID grants.
The decision comes after the Trump administration was sued by more than two dozen current and former USAID employees after his administration took broad measures to rein in the agency’s operations.
Following the announcement of the ruling, Charlie Kirk, a popular conservative commentator, posted on X that, “BREAKING: Obama-appointed district court judge Theodore Chuang has ordered the restoration of USAID, claiming its shutdown ‘violated the United States Constitution.’ In case it wasn’t explicit enough that the only two clauses of the left’s constitution were ‘thou shalt have open borders’ and ‘All American money will be sent abroad.”
The post attracted Musk’s attention who reposted his comments saying only, “Indeed.”
‘Run by a bunch of radical lunatics’
In comments made shortly after taking office, Trump blasted USAID as being “run by a bunch of radical lunatics,” and promised that “we’re getting them out.”
The Trump administration said that after necessary cuts were made at the agency, what remained would be managed by the State Department, under Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Also, Musk’s work and relationship with DOGE as a “special government employee” has been a topic of discussion among legal circles and was also commented on by Chuang in his ruling.
Chuang wrote, “If a president could escape Appointments Clause scrutiny by having advisers go beyond the traditional role of White House advisors who communicate the president’s priority 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.”
This implies that the constitutional requirement is that the president consult the Senate first before making any high-level appointments.
Musk ‘lacked the authority’
Chuang argued that Musk, who is said to have merely advised the decision to target USAID for cuts, did not have the authority to do so.
“Under these circumstances, the evidence presently favors the conclusion that contrary to defendants’ sweeping claim that Musk acted only as an advisor, Musk made the decisions to shut down USAID’s headquarters and website even though he ‘lacked the authority to make that decision,” Chuang wrote.
“This record must be considered alongside the fact that Musk appears to have been involved in the shutdown of CFPB [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] headquarters as well,” Chuang added in his opinion.
The suit that led to the decision argued that Musk and DOGE were wielding powers that the Constitution reserves only for those who either win elections or are confirmed by the Senate.
The attorneys involved said that Chuang’s ruling “effectively halts or reverses” many of the steps DOGE had taken to dismantle the agency.
In February, DOGE placed all but a small fraction of the agency’s employees on leave, and said at least 1,600 federal staffers were to be fired.
DOGE’s effort was to cut spending at the federal level to help the U.S. balance its budget.
“Either we get government efficient or America goes bankrupt. That’s what it comes down to. Wish I were wrong, but it’s true,” Musk posted on X last November.
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