The Daily Populous Wednesday March 19th, 2025 morning edition
Authored by newrepublic.com and submitted by thenewrepublic

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to dismantle USAID were “likely” unconstitutional “in multiple ways.”

In a nearly 70-page filing , Maryland District Judge Theodore Chuang responded to a lawsuit filed by several employees at USAID, which saw its workforce reduced by a whopping 98 percent as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate the international aid agency.

Chuang’s order constrains DOGE and Musk personally —the first order to do so for the shadowy head of the amorphous organization.

Chuang wrote that he agreed with the plaintiffs and said that DOGE had violated the separation of powers clause because its actions to shutter USAID “contravene congressional authority relating to the establishment of an agency.”

“The Court find that Defendants’ actions taken to shut down USAID on an accelerated basis, including its apparent decision to permanently close USAID headquarters without the approval of a duly appointed USAID Officer, likely violated the United States Constitution in multiple ways, and these actions harmed not only Plaintiffs, but also the public interest, because they 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,” Chuang wrote.

Chuang agreed to grant some, but not all, of the relief requested by the plaintiffs, saying that while the the mass personnel and contract terminations were part of DOGE’s efforts to permanently dismantle USAID, the court would not enjoin them because the record “presently supports the conclusion that USAID either approved or ratified the decisions, so such relief would effectively enjoin USAID.”

The order did enjoin Musk and DOGE from ordering additional terminations of employees, contracts, and grants, as well as efforts to destroy records at USAID or its website.

The order barred Musk and DOGE from taking “any actions relating to USAID without the express authorization of a USAID official with legal authority to take or approve the action,” and required DOGE to “reinstate access to email, payments, security notifications, and other electronic systems including restoring deleted emails, for current USAID employees and PSCs,” to address the plaintiffs’ “ongoing security and privacy concerns.”

The order also requires Musk and DOGE to agree to allow all parties to reoccupy USAID’s headquarters, which were raided and ordered empty last month, in the event of a final ruling in favor of the plaintiffs.

Musk responded to the ruling Tuesday, resharing a post on X from Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk. “In case it wasn’t explicit enough that the only two clauses of the left’s constitution were ‘thou shalt have open borders’ and ‘All American money will be sent abroad,’” Kirk wrote .

happyfundtimes on March 18th, 2025 at 19:34 UTC »

Cool. Can we lock him up? He just broke the law. He isn't the president, so he doesn't have immunity.

muchnycrunchny on March 18th, 2025 at 19:33 UTC »

DOGE is going to end up causing MORE money to be spent to fix its cuts.

thenewrepublic on March 18th, 2025 at 19:32 UTC »

> A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to dismantle USAID were unconstitutional “in multiple ways.”In a nearly 70-page filing, Maryland District Judge Theodore Chuang responded to a lawsuit filed by several fired USAID employees. His order constrains DOGE and Musk personally—the first order to do so for the shadowy head of the amorphous organization.