A federal judge found on Tuesday that efforts by Elon Musk and his team to permanently shutter the United States Agency for International Development likely violated the Constitution “in multiple ways” and robbed Congress of its authority to oversee the dissolution of an agency it created.
The ruling by Judge Theodore D. Chuang of U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland appeared to be the first time a judge has moved to rein in Mr. Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency directly. It was based on the finding that Mr. Musk has acted as an officer of the United States without being properly appointed to that role by President Trump.
Judge Chuang wrote that a group of unnamed aid workers who had sued to stop the demolition of U.S.A.I.D. and its programs were likely to succeed in the lawsuit. He agreed with their contention that Mr. Musk’s rapid assertion of power over executive agencies was likely in violation of the Constitution’s appointments clause.
The judge also ordered that agency operations be partially restored — though that reprieve is likely temporary. He ordered Mr. Musk’s team to reinstate email access to all current U.S.A.I.D. employees, including those on paid leave. He also ordered them to submit a plan for employees to reoccupy a federal office from which they were evicted last month, and he barred Mr. Musk’s team from engaging in any further work “related to the shutdown of U.S.A.I.D.”
Given that much of the agency’s work force and contracts have already been terminated, it was not immediately clear what effect the judge’s ruling would have. Only a skeleton crew of workers are still employed by the agency.
And while the order barred Mr. Musk from meddling with the agency personally, it suggested that he or others could continue to do so after receiving “the express authorization of a U.S.A.I.D. official with legal authority to take or approve the action.”
As early as Feb. 3, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had assumed control of the agency and had directed a variety of cuts in his own authority. The judge noted that Mr. Rubio could declare his intent to permanently close the agency’s headquarters within 14 days of his order, and the offices would remain closed.
But the finding that Mr. Musk had personally, and unlawfully, overseen the dismantling of the agency offered a firm rejection of his operation’s authority. In the sternly worded order, Judge Chuang warned that any skirting of its requirements could result in his holding Mr. Musk or members of his team in contempt.
Lawyers representing the government had previously argued in that case that the Department of Government Efficiency, or the U.S. DOGE Service, was in fact not headed by Mr. Musk and was serving in an advisory capacity. They said Mr. Musk had no authority to steer decisions on his own.
But Judge Chuang appeared to dismiss those claims entirely, noting that Mr. Musk had targeted and celebrated actions to dramatically downsize U.S.A.I.D., including the firing of a vast majority of its workers and the cancellation of around 90 percent of its contracts and grants.
“DOGE has taken numerous actions without any apparent advanced approval by agency leadership,” the judge wrote, reeling off a list of other examples at the Education Department, the National Institutes of Health and the Energy Department, where Mr. Musk’s associates apparently recommended cuts on their own.
“Taken together, these facts support the conclusion that U.S.A.I.D. has effectively been eliminated,” he wrote.
