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A federal judge says Elon Musk exceeded his authority in dismantling USAID and that shuttering the agency likely was unconstitutional. The case essentially comes down to a clash between two of the country's three branches of government, U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang found -- and in this instance, Musk and his DOGE team have encroached on another branch's territory. The wronged party, Chuang found, is the legislative branch, as the Trump administration continued its habit of attempting to usurp the power of Congress. This time, Chuang called them on it, as explained in a post at democracydocket.com:
Billionaire Elon Musk overseeing the Trump administration’s attempted takeover of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) “likely violated the United States Constitution in multiple ways,” a federal judge in Maryland determined Tuesday.
Judge Theodore Chuang, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, ordered that Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could not take additional steps toward shutting down USAID and must restore USAID employees’ access to electronic systems.
Chuang rebuked Musk and DOGE for violating Congress’s constitutional authority to appropriate funds and create or shut down federal agencies. Specifically, the judge said they likely violated the Appointments Clause and the constitutional principle of Separation of Powers.
“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,” the judge wrote.He granted, in part, the preliminary injunction as part of a lawsuit challenging DOGE’s takeover of the agency brought by dozens of USAID employees being represented by State Democracy Defenders Action.
Will Trumpers ever get it through their skulls that they cannot assume authority lawfully granted to Congress. Judge Chaung seems to be doing his best to drive home that point.
More details come from an article jointly published at CNN and Yahoo! News:
Billionaire Elon Musk appears to have overstepped his executive branch authority with his Department of Government Efficiency, a federal judge said Tuesday as he indefinitely blocked the dismantling of USAID.
“The court finds that Defendants’ unilateral actions to shut down USAID likely violated the United States Constitution,” said Judge Theodore D. Chuang of the US District Court in Maryland.
Chuang said that DOGE cannot terminate any more contracts or grants of USAID, nor can it fire or put on leave any more employees. He also cut off DOGE staffers from sharing sensitive personal data kept by the agency, in a major win for groups broadly challenging Musk’s role in the federal government.
A lawyer with a group that backs the lawsuit called the ruling a "milestone:
The ruling, placing a preliminary injunction on DOGE, is one of the first major rulings to limit Musk’s work in the federal government because of the US Constitution.
And it may chart the way other courts will look at Musk, as his efforts and the Trump administration are challenged for attempting to dismantle other government agencies and abruptly cut back federal spending.
“Today’s decision is an important victory against Elon Musk and his DOGE attack on USAID, the U.S. government and the Constitution,” said Norm Eisen, executive chair of State Democracy Defenders Fund, which backs the lawsuit. “They are performing surgery with a chainsaw instead of a scalpel, harming not just the people USAID serves but the majority of Americans who count on the stability of our government. This case is a milestone in pushing back on Musk and DOGE’s illegality.”
The Trump administration, as has become its custom, attacked both the ruling and the judge who issued it:
The White House on Tuesday criticized the judge in response to the ruling. “Rogue judges are subverting the will of the American people in their attempts to stop President Trump from carrying out his agenda,” Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement. “If these Judges want to force their partisan ideologies across the government, they should run for office themselves.”
How stupid is Kelly's comment? Federal judges do not run for office; they are nominated by presidents and must go before the U.S. Senate for confirmation, in proceedings that have become must-see TV since the infamous hearing for Clarence Thomas in 1991. That event introduced America to a porn star called "Long Dong Silver," plus the image of a Coke can with a public hair on it. No wonder no one wants to miss a Senate hearing for judges anymore.
It might be news to Kelly, but candidates for a federal judgeship usually go through an extensive FBI background check, something that is not likely to be foisted on political candidates. That's how we wind up with a hack like Donald Trump. Heck, "Long Dong Silver" probably is more qualified to be president than Trump.
Speaking of Trump, he was displeased with Judge Chuang's ruling in the USAID matter, and the president continued his pattern of ripping any judge who dares rule against him or his allies. From the CNN/Yahoo! report:
President Donald Trump blasted the judge’s decision later Tuesday, telling Fox News in an interview his administration plans to appeal the ruling.
“We’ll be appealing it, I guess – not I guess, I guarantee you, we will be appealing it,” Trump told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham. “We have rogue judges that are destroying our country.”
Chuang’s decision turns on Musk’s role at DOGE and Trump’s repeated public statements that the billionaire Tesla owner runs the office.
The judge outlined multiple times Trump and Musk said in public the tech entrepreneur was leading the DOGE efforts, despite the administration in court later arguing another government official was in charge and that Musk was a White House adviser and not an employee of DOGE.The times Trump acknowledged Musk led DOGE included, the judge noted: in press conferences, in an interview with TV host Sean Hannity, in a speech to corporate executives, at his first Cabinet meeting, and in his March 4 address to Congress. Chuang also described many of Musk’s posts on his social-media platform X that “suggest he has the ability to cause DOGE to act,” the judge wrote.
The shutdown of USAID – largely executed by members of Musk’s DOGE team – has been one of the most visible examples of the Trump administration cutting back the federal workforce to curtail spending.
Several other cases attempting to stop the dismantling of USAID haven’t been as successful as the case before Chuang on Tuesday, brought by USAID employees and contractors.
They said they lost access to electronic systems at the agency including for security assistance in high-risk areas abroad, and they haven’t received reimbursements the agency owes them, for things like travel and health insurance.
Chuang was responding to Musk’s role in permanently closing the USAID headquarters, taking down its website and terminating many of its contracts, grants and workers.
“Under the circumstances in the present record, where the DOGE Team Members have displayed an extremely troubling lack of respect for security clearance requirements and agency rules relating to access to sensitive data … the Court finds that the potential disclosure of sensitive personal information” could harm the unnamed plaintiffs, he said.
The judge did specify that he won’t stop DOGE from accessing personal data of employees at USAID, but they are not allowed to share it outside the agency and must reinstate systems that were shut down.
