A cadre of 26 anonymous current and former USAID employees and personal services contractors sued Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, arguing that Musk’s authority to order the closure of USAID and make sweeping changes across other federal agencies violates the Appointments Clause, and that the Trump administration’s efforts to shutter USAID violated the constitutional separation of powers, given that Congress established the agency in statute in the 1990s.
In a nearly 70-page decision, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang, an Obama appointee, ruled that despite the administration’s protestations that Amy Gleason is acting U.S. DOGE Service administrator, for all intents and purposes, Musk leads the agency. The White House has claimed that Musk is a special government employee with the official title of a White House senior advisor.
“At this preliminary stage, the record demonstrates that, at least during the time period relevant to this motion, Musk was, at a minimum, likely the official performing the duties and functions of the USDS administrator,” Chuang wrote. “Even if viewed from the standpoint of the senior advisor position that he occupies on paper, the record of his activities to date establishes that his role has been and will continue to be as the leader of DOGE, with the same duties and degree of continuity as if he were f ..
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