Fourteen states have filed a federal lawsuit in opposition to President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, difficult Musk’s function as head of the brand new Department of Government Efficiency and accusing him of being a “designated agent of chaos” whose “sweeping authority” is in violation of the U.S. Structure.
“Musk’s seemingly limitless and unchecked energy to strip the federal government of its workforce and eradicate whole departments with the stroke of a pen, or a click on of a mouse, would have been surprising to those that received this nation’s independence,” reads the grievance, which was filed Thursday in federal court docket in Washington, D.C.
Led by the state of New Mexico, the lawsuit argues — in usually dramatic phrases — that the Appointments Clause of the Structure calls for somebody with such important and “expansive authority” as Musk to be formally nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
“There is no such thing as a larger menace to democracy than the buildup of state energy within the palms of a single, unelected particular person,” says the lawsuit, filed by New Mexico Legal professional Normal Raul Torrez and officers from Arizona, Michigan, Maryland, Minnesota, California, Nevada, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii. “Though our constitutional system was designed to forestall the abuses of an 18th century monarch, the devices of unchecked energy aren’t any much less harmful within the palms of a twenty first century tech baron.” Two of the 14 states are led by Republican governors.
Individually, 26 present and former USAID workers and contractors introduced go well with in opposition to Musk Thursday in a lawsuit that makes the identical constitutional declare. That go well with, filed in federal court docket in Maryland, asks a choose to dam Musk and any DOGE subordinates from persevering with their budget-slashing work until Musk is nominated by Trump for an official place and confirmed by the Senate.
“The scope and attain of his govt authority seem unprecedented in U.S. historical past,” that lawsuit says. “His energy consists of, at the very least, the authority to stop the cost of congressionally authorised funds, entry delicate and confidential information throughout authorities businesses, reduce off methods entry to federal workers and contractors at will, and take over and dismantle whole unbiased federal businesses.”
The go well with filed by the 14 states says the Structure blocks the president from overriding “current legal guidelines regarding the construction of the Govt Department and federal spending.” Because of this, the go well with says, the commander-in-chief from is forbidden from creating — and even “extinguishing” — federal businesses, and from “slashing federal applications or providing prolonged severance packages as a way of radically winnowing the federal workforce,” in a nod to the Trump administration’s “deferred retirement” offer to authorities workers.
Elon Musk listens to President Donald Trump converse within the Oval Workplace of the White Home in Washington, Feb. 11, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
DOGE, led by Musk because the centerpiece of Trump’s marketing campaign promise to trim the federal authorities, has discovered itself within the crosshairs of a number of federal lawsuits, which allege that it has improperly accessed delicate data and is unlawfully gutting authorities businesses. Federal judges have temporarily blocked DOGE from accessing delicate information on the Treasury Division, whereas the Division of Schooling not too long ago reached an settlement to restrict DOGE’s entry to pupil mortgage data.
A lawsuit difficult the dismantling of USAID additionally resulted in a temporary order that blocks the company from inserting greater than 2,000 workers on depart.
“[T]he President doesn’t have the constitutional authority to unilaterally dismantle the federal government. Nor might he delegate such expansive authority to an unelected, unconfirmed particular person,” Thursday’s lawsuit says.
The Appointments Clause of the Structure has usually been interpreted to require that anybody deemed a “principal officer” of the U.S. authorities have to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The White Home has known as Musk a “particular authorities worker” as head of DOGE.
However of their lawsuit Thursday, the states insisted that Musk has such “important authority” and such “unprecedented and seemingly limitless entry throughout the federal authorities,” whereas reporting “solely to President Trump,” that he’s really serving as a “principal officer.”
“Musk is excess of an adviser to the White Home,” the lawsuit says. “He executes the President’s agenda by exercising nearly unchecked energy throughout the complete Govt department, making choices about expenditures, contracts, authorities property, laws, and the very existence of federal businesses.”
The lawsuit claims that Musk’s DOGE “has inserted itself into at the very least 17 federal businesses,” and that Musk has “authority to direct and veto the staffing choices of” a number of federal businesses.
“The specifics of Musk’s conduct inside varied businesses affirm that he’s wielding the facility of a principal officer, a principal officer that has by no means beforehand existed,” the lawsuit says.
“Because of this, all of Musk’s actions are [beyond his authority] and opposite to legislation,” says the go well with.
The 14 states are asking a federal choose to at the very least quickly restrict Musk’s capacity to chop or in any other case overhaul federal businesses, they usually need the choose to declare “that Musk’s officer-level governmental actions thus far, together with these of his subordinates and designees” are illegal.
Each Musk and the Trump administration have insisted that Musk and DOGE are merely rooting out huge authorities waste and doubtlessly even prison corruption inside federal businesses.
White Home spokesperson Karoline Leavitt has repeatedly stated Musk is “complying with all relevant federal legal guidelines.”
