A federal judge on Tuesday ordered a halt to the closure of a major US aid agency by the Elon Musk-led US Department of Government Efficiency (DoGE). US District Court Judge Theodore Chuang has said that Musk and Doss’s dissolution of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) may have violated the US Constitution in several ways.
Chuang issued the order in response to a lawsuit filed by current and former USAID employees and contractors challenging the billionaire’s legal authority to cut federal government spending and jobs. They have argued that Musk must be confirmed by the Senate to exercise his authority under the ‘Appointments Clause’ of the US Constitution.
Judge Chuang said that allowing Musk to wield unbridled power over the government would “open the door to the near end of the Constitution’s ‘appointments clause'” and limit it to “nothing more than a technical formality.” Chuang said Musk and Doe’s actions violated Congress’s authority to decide when and how to close USAID, which was established by Congress in 1961.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that he would cancel 83 percent of USAID’s humanitarian assistance programs around the world and focus on health and emergency programs in about 120 countries.
The court ruling is the latest legal blow to Trump’s campaign to cut costs and cut government staff. Another judge has ordered the reinstatement of thousands of probationary workers at various agencies recently fired by Musk’s administration.
Chuang has ordered access to email and other electronic systems to be restored to current USAID employees and contractors. “USAID should be allowed to regain control of its Washington headquarters unless the court confirms that the permanently closed office has been reopened by the acting administrator of USAID or another authorized official of the United States,” he said.
Trump signed an executive order last January calling for the suspension of all US foreign assistance under USAID.
