Judge rules against Elon Musk in USAID case, says DOGE shutdown attempt likely unconstitutional

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency likely violated the Constitution by attempting to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Judge Theodore D. Chuang, an Obama appointee to the court in Maryland, ordered Mr. Musk and the DOGE to restore USAID workers’ electronic access and to stop their efforts to carry out the shutdown.

Judge Chuang specifically ordered them to preserve USAID’s headquarters at a federal office building in Washington in preparation for a final ruling that could fully restore the agency.

The ruling is one of the farthest-reaching judicial spankings yet of Mr. Musk, saying it appeared he was the power in the administration behind the shutdown attempt.

“Thus, based on the present record, the only individuals known to be associated with the decisions to initiate a shutdown of USAID by permanently closing USAID headquarters and taking down its website are Musk and DOGE team members,” the judge wrote.

He rebuffed the administration’s argument that all the key decisions were actually made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Peter Marocco, the State Department official now in charge of foreign assistance.