Judge rules DOGE push to close USAID likely violated Constitution

Michael Macagnone, CQ-Roll Call on Mar 18, 2025

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WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Maryland temporarily ordered the administration to stop efforts to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development, ruling Tuesday that Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration actions likely trounced on congressional power.

Judge Theodore D. Chuang for the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, ruling in favor of the more than two dozen agency workers and contractors, ordered the Trump administration, including Musk, to reinstate workers and reopen the agency’s Washington headquarters.

In issuing a preliminary injunction, Chuang wrote that any action taken by USAID, such as stopping grants, had to come from a duly appointed official, not ad hoc by Musk or members of the Trump White House’s Department of Government Efficiency.

Chuang found that Trump officials “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 workers had sued after a series of decisions last month that laid off USAID staff, canceled aid and in Trump’s words “shut down” the agency. Thousands of employees were placed on administrative leave, then fired, and Trump officials froze billions of dollars in aid.

Chuang wrote that DOGE and the Trump administration’s decisions to effectively shutter USAID likely violated the constitutional separation of powers.

“Where Congress has prescribed the existence of USAID in statute pursuant to its legislative powers under Article I, the President’s Article II power to take care that the laws are faithfully executed does not provide authority for the unilateral, drastic actions taken to dismantle the agency,” the opinion said.

The ruling is the first to explicitly address Musk’s murky role in the Trump administration. Chuang held that Musk’s role in the shutting down of USAID headquarters likely violated the constitution’s requirement that high-profile officials are subject to Senate confirmation.

Chuang also noted that the Justice Department has not publicly clarified who is in charge of DOGE, which Trump created out of the existing U.S. Digital Service on Jan. 20. While Trump and Musk have publicly said that Musk is in charge of the operation, the Justice Department has argued that another official, Amy Gleason, leads DOGE and Musk has no formal decision-making power.

“The record of his activities to date establishes that his role has been and continues to be as the leader of DOGE, with the same duties and degree of continuity as if he was formally in that position,” Chuang wrote.

Chuang wrote that he would not go as far as the workers bringing the lawsuit wanted.

The decision comes amidst dozens of lawsuits over the Trump administration’s actions to shut down USAID and assert broad control over the executive branch more generally.

Earlier Tuesday, Trump escalated his efforts to push back against judicial decisions counter to his agenda, calling for the impeachment of a federal judge who ruled against him.

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