This is a devastating setback for these would-be dictators. And it gets so much better…
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang has ruled in favor of twenty-six current and former USAID workers who are seeking to “delay a premature, final shutdown” of the crucial, life-saving agency while the issue works its way through the courts.
Chuang’s order directs DOGE to reinstate both email and system access to current USAID workers while also blocking Elon’s DOGE minions from executing “any actions relating” to USAID without permission from a USAID official with relevant authority.
This is a watershed moment because it marks the first time that a judge has ruled that Musk likely requires official confirmation from the Senate under the Constitution’s Appointments Clause to continue his DOGE efforts.
“The record of his activities to date establishes that [Musk’s] 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.
While the Trump administration has been arguing in court that Musk is not the administrator of DOGE, Trump himself has contradicted those efforts by praising the billionaire as leader of the organization.
“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,” wrote Judge Chuang.
The judge also made note of Musk’s efforts to dismantle other key segments of the federal government—
“This record must be considered alongside the fact that Musk appears to have been involved in the shutdown of CFPB headquarters as well, and the evidence that shows or strongly suggests that Musk and DOGE, despite their allegedly advisory roles, have taken other unilateral actions without any apparent authorization from agency officials,” he wrote.
Those who support the continued survival of our democracy are celebrating the judge’s ruling.
“Today’s decision is an important victory against Elon Musk and his DOGE attack on USAID, the United States’ government, and the Constitution,” stated Norm Eisen, the Executive Chair of State Defenders Democracy Fund, the firm representing the twenty-six USAID workers.
“They are performing surgery with a chainsaw instead of a scalpel, harming not just the people USAID serves but also the majority of Americans who count on the stability of our government,” he added. “This case is a milestone in pushing back on Musk and DOGE’s illegality.”
