Judge rules DOGE’s USAID dismantling likely violates the Constitution

The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development likely violated the Constitution, a federal judge ruled Tuesday as he indefinitely blocked billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency further cuts to the agency.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland ordered the Trump administration to restore email and computer access to all employees of USAID, including those who were placed on administrative leave.

The evidence suggests that Musk made decisions to shut down USAID’s headquarters and website despite the administration’s claim that he was merely President Donald Trump’s advisor, Chaung found. Musk’s public statements and social media posts demonstrate that he has “firm control over DOGE,” the judge concluded.

The judge acknowledged that it’s likely that USAID is no longer capable of performing some of its statutorily required functions.

“Taken together, these facts support the conclusion that USAID has been effectively eliminated,” Chuang wrote in the preliminary injunction.

The lawsuit filed by attorneys for USAID employees and contractors singled out Musk as a defendant, arguing that he was wielding power the Constitution reserves only for those who win elections or are confirmed by the Senate.

The administration has said that DOGE is searching for and rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, consistent with the campaign message that helped Trump win the 2024 election.

In February, the Trump administration placed all but a fraction of USAID’s worldwide staff on leave and notified at least 1,600 of its U.S.-based staffers they were being fired. The effort to gut the six-decade-old aid agency was part of a broader push to eradicate the foreign aid agency and most of its humanitarian and development programs abroad.

Trump on Inauguration Day issued an executive order directing a freeze of foreign assistance funding and a review of all U.S. aid and development work abroad. Trump charged that much of foreign assistance was wasteful and advanced a liberal agenda.

The White House and DOGE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit was filed by the State Democracy Defenders Fund. Norm Eisen, the nonprofit’s executive chair, called the ruling a milestone in pushback to DOGE.

“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,” he said in a statement.

__

Associated Press writers Chris Megerian and Ellen Knickmeyer contributed reporting.