The federal choose who oversaw Donald Trump’s election interference case will hear arguments Friday over tech billionaire Elon Musk’s authority to run the Division of Authorities Effectivity.
Fourteen states filed a federal lawsuit Thursday alleging that Musk’s “expansive authority” is in violation of the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Structure, which requires anybody deemed a “principal officer” of the U.S. authorities to be formally nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
“[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,” the lawsuit says.
The 14 states filed a movement Friday searching for a short lived restraining order to dam Musk and DOGE from persevering with to overtake and reduce the federal authorities.
The movement asks U.S. District Court docket Choose Tanya Chutkan to instantly block Musk from altering the funding for any company, from putting any workers on depart, from canceling any authorities contracts, from accessing any delicate information, and from “asserting management over” any company.
Chutkan oversaw the 2023 felony case that charged Trump with endeavor a “felony scheme” to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 election in an effort to stay in energy. Trump pleaded not guilty to all costs, and the case was dismissed following Trump’s reelection in November because of a longstanding Justice Division coverage prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president.
Elon Musk listens to President Donald Trump converse within the Oval Workplace of the White Home in Washington, D.C., 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 scholar mortgage data.
Of their movement Friday, the 14 states allege that Musk has already “reduce billions of {dollars} from company budgets, fired company personnel, and that he has moved to, in his phrases, ‘delete’ complete businesses. He has canceled authorities contracts, introduced plans to promote authorities property, and promised to withdraw a large number of rules throughout completely different businesses. He has put in his personal groups into businesses and given them entry to the businesses’ most delicate information.”
“In different phrases, a person accountable solely to the President — if he solutions to anybody in any respect — is exercising apparently limitless energy throughout the Govt Department. Mr. Musk’s conduct has wreaked havoc on the federal authorities and brought on mass chaos and confusion for state and native governments, federal workers, the American public, and other people world wide who rely upon the USA for management and assist,” the submitting says.
