The dismantling of the American agency for international development by billionaire Elon Musk The Government Ministry of Effectiveness probably violated the Constitution, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday while it was blocking indefinitely DOGE to do other cuts to the agency.
The order obliges the Trump administration to restore access to emails and computer to all employees of UsaidIncluding those who have been on administrative leave, although it seems to stop in the reversal of layoffs or fully resuscitate the agency.
In one of the first proceedings against Musk himself, the American district judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland rejected the position of the Trump administration according to which Musk is only the president Donald Trump advise.
Musk’s public statements and publications on social networks show that he has “firm control over Doge”, the judge found pointing towards an online article where Musk said he had “nourished in the wooden shredder”.
The judge recognized that it is likely that USAID is no longer able to perform some of its functions required by status.
“Together, these facts support the conclusion that the USAID was actually eliminated,” wrote CHUANG in the preliminary injunction.
The trial brought by the USAID employees and entrepreneurs arguined that Musk and Doge exercise the power that the Constitution reserves only for those who earn elections or are confirmed by the Senate.
Their lawyers said that the decision “stops or effectively informed” many measures taken to dismantle the agency.
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The administration said that Doge was looking for and eliminated waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, in accordance with the campaign message that helped Trump win the 2024 elections. The White House and Dogi did not immediately respond to a request for the decision.
Musk, his team and named Trump’s policy, Pete Marocco, played a central role in the two -month dismantling of the USAID. In one case in early February, the administration has placed the best security officials of the agency on forced leave after trying to prevent Doge workers from accessing classified and sensitive documents of the USAID.
The administration, with the support of Musk and Doge, continued to order a fraction of the staff of the agency through holidays and forced layoffs, and dismissed what the State Department said it was at least 83% of the USAID program contracts.
The movements were part of a wider thrust of Musk and the Trump administration to eradicate the foreign assistance agency of six decades and most of its work abroad.
Trump on the day of the inauguration published an executive decree leading to a freezing of foreign aid funding and an examination of all assistance and development work in the United States abroad, invoicing that a large part of foreign aid was a waste and advanced a liberal program.
Democratic legislators and other USAID supporters argued that Trump did not have the power to retain the funding that Congress has already approved.
CHUANG said that the rapid destruction of DOGE and MUSK of the USAID probably has harmed public interests by depriving the elected legislators of their “constitutional power to decide whether, when and how to close an agency created by the Congress”.
The trial was brought by the fund of the defenders of state democracy. Norm Eisen, the executive president of the non -profit organization, said that the decision is an important step in decline in Doge and the first to note that Musk’s actions violate the constitutional appointment, which requires presidential approval and confirmation of the Senate for certain officials.
“They carry out surgery with a chainsaw instead of a scalpel, harming not only to the people that USAID serves, but also by the majority of Americans who count on the stability of our government,” he said in a statement.
Abby Maxman of Oxfam America, in a press release, urged all the workforce and the funding to be reintegrated.
“Funding freezing and program cuts already have consequences for life or death for millions worldwide,” said the humanitarian group’s general manager.
The editors of the Associated Press Chris Megerian and Ellen Knickmeyer contributed the reports.
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press
