Federal judge rules Musk may have acted unconstitutionally to shutter USAID

A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that Trump’s efficiency czar “likely violated the United States Constitution” in his efforts to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development, one of Elon Musk’s first targets since becoming one of the president’s lead advisors. 

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, ruled in favor of 26 former employees of the aid agency and decided that there should be an effort to “delay a premature, final shutdown” while litigation is ongoing. 

The judge also blocked any Department of Government Efficiency employees from taking any action related to USAID unless given express permission by agency staff. He said Musk’s actions may have run afoul of the Constitution’s Appointments Clause because the billionaire businessman is serving as the DOGE administrator, but has not been confirmed by the Senate. 

“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,” Judge Chuang wrote.

You can read the ruling below: 

The international development agency was one of the first efforts of Musk’s push to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, especially targeting its foreign programs. The Trump administration identified programs ranging from contraceptives for Afghanistan to LGBT diversity programs for European countries as clear evidence that foreign aid needed to be paused and reevaluated, ultimately leading to Secretary of State Marco Rubio assuming control of the agency and reducing its programs by about 80%. Now, the status of that reduction is unclear.