A federal district judge in Maryland has found that Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) appear to have breached the United States Constitution through their efforts to dismantle an agency dedicated to distributing foreign aid.
Judge Theodore Chuang issued the preliminary ruling on Tuesday, in response to a complaint filed by 26 employees and contractors for the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
“The Court finds 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,” Chuang wrote in his decision.
Not only were the plaintiffs harmed, he added, but the “public interest” was also.
DOGE and Musk “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 said.
As a result of that finding, the judge approved a temporary injunction that would prevent DOGE and Musk from continuing with USAID-related staff cuts, contract cancellations, building closures and the destruction of USAID materials.
“The restrictions will assist in maintaining the status quo so as to delay a premature, final shutdown of USAID,” Chuang wrote.
It was a significant blow to Musk, whose role in the government has been ambiguous – but who has wielded significant power due to his close relationship with US President Donald Trump.
A tech billionaire and one of the wealthiest men in the world, Musk is considered a “special government employee”, a temporary role often given to outside advisers.
In that role, however, he has led DOGE in a vast campaign to restructure the federal government, through downsizing its workforce, ending contracts and attempting to shutter entire agencies.
USAID was one of the first in DOGE’s crosshairs. Upon taking office for a second term on January 20, Trump issued a presidential order calling for a 90-day freeze on all foreign aid – a central part of USAID’s work.
Established in 1961 by an act of Congress, USAID had become the US’s primary arm for distributing foreign assistance abroad.
But under Trump’s order, only aid that aligned with the president’s foreign policy would be allowed to continue.
Musk became the face of the campaign to close USAID entirely. “USAID is a criminal organization,” he wrote on his social media platform X on February 2, without offering proof. “Time for it to die.”
Later that day, Musk posted another message on X: “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper. Could [have] gone to some great parties. Did that instead.”
By the end of February, the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC, was effectively closed, with employees given only 15 minutes to collect their belongings. An estimated 1,600 workers were fired, and another 4,700 were put on leave.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio eventually announced that 83 percent of all USAID contracts had been cancelled.
To justify the cuts across government, Musk and Trump have repeatedly accused departments and agencies of having perpetrated “waste” and “fraud”, without offering proof.
Given that USAID was established as an independent agency under Congress’s Foreign Assistance Act, Judge Chuang ruled that Musk’s actions “likely violates the constitutional principle of Separation of Powers”.
As part of Tuesday’s injunction, Chuang required DOGE to restore USAID employees’ access to electronic systems and called for the department to restore any deleted emails.
Trump allies, however, quickly slammed Chuang – an appointee of former President Barack Obama – for his temporary injunction.
Musk reposted a social media message from conservative commentator Charlie Kirk which accused Chuang of partisanship. “Indeed”, Musk wrote in a one-word reply.