Fourteen Democratic state attorneys general sued Elon Musk and President Trump on Thursday to challenge what they called the “unlawful delegation of executive power” granted to Mr. Musk and his cost-cutting initiative, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
The lawsuit came on the same day that Mr. Musk and his team were sued by a group of government employees represented by the State Democracy Defenders Fund, a nonprofit watchdog. The coalition argued that Mr. Musk’s attempts to dismantle agencies, stop the payment of congressionally approved funds and have access to sensitive government data exceeded his authority.
DOGE, which is not an official department but an entity housed within the executive office of the president, has already faced numerous legal challenges over its attempts to overhaul government agencies and cut spending. Since Mr. Trump’s inauguration, Mr. Musk’s team has inserted itself into at least 19 agencies, according to a tally by The New York Times.
The White House and representatives of Mr. Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The 14 states argued that Mr. Trump had violated the appointments clause of the Constitution by granting sweeping powers to Mr. Musk, who has “transformed a minor position that was formerly responsible for managing government websites into a designated agent of chaos without limitation,” according to the complaint, which was filed in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia.
“Mr. Musk’s seemingly limitless and unchecked power to strip the government of its work force and eliminate entire departments with the stroke of a pen or click of a mouse would have been shocking to those who won this country’s independence,” the complaint reads. “The sweeping authority now vested in a single unelected and unconfirmed individual is antithetical to the nation’s entire constitutional structure.”
The states also asserted that Mr. Musk’s actions could harm their residents by disrupting billions of dollars in federal funding for critical services like law enforcement, education and health care. They argued that, for instance, Mr. Musk’s desire to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could require states to invest far more resources and personnel to “protect their citizens.”
The suit was filed by the attorneys general in New Mexico, Arizona, Michigan, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Vermont.
The State Democracy Defenders Fund, which filed its lawsuit with the firm Marziani, Stevens & Gonzalez, also argued that Mr. Musk wielded an “extraordinary amount of power” and that his actions had violated the Constitution’s appointments clause.
The plaintiffs are seeking to prevent Mr. Musk and his team from continuing their work until Mr. Musk is “properly appointed,” according to the complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
Over the past three weeks, Mr. Musk’s team has helped effectively shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development; announced various cuts at the Education Department, totaling more than $900 million; and gained access to the Treasury Department’s payments system. Several attorneys general have filed a separate lawsuit challenging that access, and a federal judge on Saturday temporarily restricted it.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump further empowered Mr. Musk by signing an executive order giving his team more authority to shape the federal work force and approve the hirings of career officials in the future. White House officials have defended Mr. Musk’s actions, which they say are helping taxpayers by identifying wasteful and fraudulent spending.
“Our government has rules to protect the American people from executive overreach,” Norman Eisen, the executive chair of State Democracy Defenders Fund, said in a statement, adding: “We can and will achieve accountability through the courts.”
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