Updated March 18, 2025 at 18:30 PM ET
The Trump administration likely violated the Constitution when it effectively shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development, a federal judge has ruled.
In a 68-page opinion Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Theodore Chuang, an Obama appointee, wrote that "the Court finds that Defendants' actions taken to shut down USAID on an accelerated basis, including its apparent decision to permanently close USAID headquarters without the approval of a duly appointed USAID Officer, likely violated the United States Constitution in multiple ways, and that these actions harmed not only Plaintiffs, but also the public interest, because they deprived the public's elected representatives in Congress of their constitutional authority to decide whether, when, and how to close down an agency created by Congress."
The plaintiffs are more than two dozen unnamed current or recently fired employees and contractors of USAID. The defendants are Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.
In his ruling, Chuang wrote that "the evidence presently favors the conclusion that contrary to Defendants' sweeping claim that Musk has acted only as an advisor, Musk made the decisions to shutdown USAID's headquarters and website even though he lacked the authority to make that decision."
A request for comment from a White House spokesperson has not been answered. In an earlier court filing in the case, the Department of Justice claimed that "the undisputed evidence reflects that USAID leadership—not Defendants—are responsible for the actions Plaintiffs contest."
In recent days, the White House has criticized federal judges who've ruled against the executive branch's authority.
USAID employees who were fired or put on administrative leave were told to show up at the now-shuttered USAID headquarters in Washington, D.C., late last month to collect their belongings. A week ago, Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled most foreign aid contracts.
"Today's decision is an important victory against Elon Musk and his DOGE attack on USAID, the United States' government, and the Constitution," Norm Eisen — executive chair of State Democracy Defenders Fund, the group that represented the plaintiffs — said in a statement. "They are performing surgery with a chainsaw instead of a scalpel, harming not just the people USAID serves but also the majority of Americans who count on the stability of our government. This case is a milestone in pushing back on Musk and DOGE's illegality."
Chuang, in his opinion, ordered DOGE team members "to reinstate access to email, payments, security notifications, and other electronic systems, including restoring deleted emails, for current USAID employees" and contractors. He also blocked defendants from taking any more steps to shut down USAID.
But with the majority of USAID's programs already terminated, and its staff whittled down to a couple hundred people, it wasn't immediately clear what kind of impact the judge's order would have on an effectively shuttered agency.
In a statement, Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, said the ruling was "a welcome reprieve" for agency staffers "but more is needed to stop the administration's illegal dismantling of an independent agency. We need all funding and all staff to be fully reinstated immediately so that the vital work that saves lives around the world can go on."
Jeremy Konyndyk — president of Refugees International, who oversaw USAID's response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak— told NPR he found the judge's remedy "a little disappointing."
"The narrow relief that it grants would not be related to USAID's [contracting] partners and funding recipients, it's really specific to the workforce," Konyndyk said.
Still, Konyndyk said the judge's ruling is "a really relevant, meaningful decision" in stating for the record that DOGE and Musk's actions in shutting down USAID likely violated the Constitution.
"Musk is acting as a sort of para-governmental free agent in destroying a federal agency where he has the backing and the authorization of the president of the United States, and yet has not been endowed with any actual formal authority, according to the government," Konyndyk said.
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