The billionaire and his DOGE team are temporarily blocked from ‘any work’ related to shutting down the global aid agency
Your support helps us to tell the story
Support Now
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Elon Musk’s attempts to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development through his so-called Department of Government Efficiency “likely violated the Constitution in multiple ways,” according to a federal judge’s ruling.
District Judge Theodore Chuang in Washington, D.C. granted a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocks DOGE from access to any USAID systems and from doing “any work” related to shutting down the agency.
Tuesday’s order follows a lawsuit from a group of recently fired USAID workers and contractors who argued that the world’s wealthiest man – who promised to put the global aid agency in a “wood chipper” — was wielding unconstitutional authority under President Donald Trump to dismantle entire federal agencies and gut the federal workforce.
The judge’s order commands Musk and DOGE to reinstate access to email and payment systems for all USAID employees and contractors and blocks the administration from taking any other actions to try to shutter the agency, including firing workers or placing them on leave, deleting websites, shutting bureaus and closing buildings.
Within two weeks, Musk and DOGE must ensure the court that agency staff will be able to reoccupy USAID’s Washington headquarters, where signage was removed and covered in black tape following the administration’s attempts to fire hundreds of workers and cut off funding that supported dozens of life-saving missions around the world.
Chuang’s ruling determined the administration likely violated the Constitution's appointments clause and the separation of powers by effectively granting Musk unprecedented authority despite holding no official role, without Senate confirmation or appointment to an existing office, to be able to make such sweeping decisions.
“The record demonstrates that, at least during the time period relevant to this motion, Musk was, at a minimum, likely the official performing the duties and functions” as the administrator of the U.S. DOGE Service, the agency that Trump renamed from the U.S. Digital Service upon taking office and empowered Musk to lead.
Administration officials have insisted that Musk is not the administrator for DOGE while the president has said the exact opposite.
Musk is merely an employee of the White House, serving as a “senior adviser to the president,” who has “no greater authority other than other senior White House advisers [have], and has “no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself,” according to a sworn statement from a senior White House official, testifying in a separate case.
But in the course of the case in Chuang’s court, “Musk was, at a minimum, likely the official performing the duties and functions” of administrator, the judge said.
“The record of his activities to date establishes that his role has been and will continued to be as the leader of DOGE,” Chuang wrote.
This is a developing story