U.S. federal judge says Elon Musk exceeded his authority and that dismantling USAID was ‘likely’ unconstitutional

Elon Musk and his son X Æ A-12 step off of Air Force One upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, on March 17. Musk appears to have overstepped his executive branch authority with his Department of Government Efficiency. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

Billionaire Elon Musk appears to have overstepped his executive branch authority with his Department of Government Efficiency, a U.S. federal judge said Tuesday as he indefinitely blocked the dismantling of USAID.

“The court finds that Defendants’ unilateral actions to shut down USAID likely violated the United States Constitution,” said Judge Theodore D. Chuang of the U.S. District Court in Maryland.

Chuang said that DOGE cannot terminate any more contracts or grants of USAID, nor can it fire or put on leave any more employees. He also cut off DOGE staffers from sharing sensitive personal data kept by the agency, in a major win for groups broadly challenging Musk’s role in the federal government.

The ruling, placing a preliminary injunction on DOGE, is one of the first major rulings to limit Musk’s work in the federal government because of the US Constitution.

And it may chart the way other courts will look at Musk, as his efforts and the Trump administration are challenged for attempting to dismantle other government agencies and abruptly cut back federal spending.

“Today’s decision is an important victory against Elon Musk and his DOGE attack on USAID, the U.S. government and the Constitution,” said Norm Eisen, executive chair of State Democracy Defenders Fund, which backs the lawsuit. “They are performing surgery with a chainsaw instead of a scalpel, harming not just the people USAID serves but the majority of Americans who count on the stability of our government. This case is a milestone in pushing back on Musk and DOGE’s illegality.”

The White House on Tuesday criticized the judge in response to the ruling. “Rogue judges are subverting the will of the American people in their attempts to stop President Trump from carrying out his agenda,” Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement. “If these Judges want to force their partisan ideologies across the government, they should run for office themselves.”

Kelly added that the Trump administration plans to appeal.

Chuang’s decision turns on Musk’s role at DOGE and U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated public statements that the billionaire Tesla owner runs the office.

The judge outlined multiple times Trump and Musk said in public the tech giant was leading the DOGE efforts, despite the administration in court later arguing another government official was in charge and that Musk was a White House adviser and not an employee of DOGE.

The times Trump acknowledged Musk led DOGE included, the judge noted: in press conferences, in an interview with TV host Sean Hannity, in a speech to corporate executives, at his first Cabinet meeting, and in his March 4 address to Congress. Chuang also described many of Musk’s posts on his social media platform X that “suggest that he has the ability to cause DOGE to act,” the judge wrote.

The judge also noted that the email account of a DOGE team member, Gavin Kliger, sent out notices laying off USAID staff.

“Musk has specifically expressed his desire to shut down USAID and has taken responsibility for the actions taken to do so,” Chuang wrote.

“President Trump publicly acknowledged that Musk and DOGE wield significant influence across federal agencies,” the judge added, saying that Musk appeared to be performing the duties of leading an agency without having been confirmed by the Senate.

The shutdown of USAID – largely executed by members of Musk’s DOGE team – has been one of the most visible examples of the Trump administration cutting back the federal workforce and curtail spending.

Several other cases attempting to stop the dismantling of USAID haven’t been as successful as the case before Chuang on Tuesday, brought by USAID employees and contractors.

They said they lost access to electronic systems at the agency including for security assistance in high-risk areas abroad, and they haven’t received reimbursements the agency owes them, for things like travel and health insurance.

Chuang was responding to Musk’s role in permanently closing the USAID headquarters, taking down its website and terminating many of its contracts, grants and workers.

“Under the circumstances in the present record, where the DOGE Team Members have displayed an extremely troubling lack of respect for security clearance requirements and agency rules relating to access to sensitive data … the Court finds that the potential disclosure of sensitive personal information” could harm the unnamed plaintiffs, he said.

The judge did specify that he won’t stop DOGE from accessing personal data of employees at USAID, but they are not allowed to share it outside the agency and must reinstate systems that were shut down.

Article by Katelyn Polantz.