A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Elon Musk and DOGE, the agency overseeing federal government restructuring, likely violated the U.S. Constitution with their accelerated shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
In his written opinion, U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang stated that the abrupt dismantling of USAID harmed the public interest and stripped Congress of its constitutional authority over an agency it created.
READ: USAID Staff Ordered To Shred And Burn Documents Amid Trump Shutdown Push
“Congress, as the elected representatives of the American people, has the power to determine the fate of USAID—not the executive branch acting unilaterally,” the judge wrote.
As part of the ruling, Chuang ordered DOGE to restore key USAID operations, including:
- Emails and electronic communication systems
- Security notifications
- Financial payments and processing
The decision deals a legal setback to the Trump administration’s broader effort to cancel billions in foreign aid, an initiative Musk and DOGE helped implement.
The USAID overhaul began in February, when the Trump administration placed nearly all of USAID’s global workforce on leave and notified at least 1,600 U.S.-based employees that they were being terminated.
READ: Jim Hanson Says Oversight Failures In USAID Distribution Resulted In Millions Funneled To Terrorists
The move was part of Trump’s executive order on Inauguration Day, which froze foreign assistance funding and initiated a review of all U.S. aid and development programs. Trump had long criticized U.S. foreign aid as wasteful and politically biased toward a liberal international agenda.
Musk’s involvement in the initiative came through DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), a newly created body tasked with overseeing the downsizing of federal agencies under the administration’s cost-cutting plans.
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