Appeals court clears way for DOGE to keep operating at USAID
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday lifted an order blocking Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from further cuts at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Even before the ruling, the Trump administration on Friday took some of the last remaining steps in breaking up USAID.
A Musk associate told staffers that by September the Trump administration will have eliminated “substantially all” USAID jobs. The firing emails began reaching staffers’ inboxes within minutes of the announcement from Jeremy Lewin, a former member of Musk’s DOGE team, who was given senior duties at the agency this month.
The administration’s aim is to eliminate the agency’s “independent operation” by September, Lewin wrote staffers in the notice, which was obtained by The Associated Press.
In a separate notice, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration had formally notified Congress on Friday of its plans to cut most USAID programs and move surviving functions under the State Department.
The court order that had blocked DOGE from further cuts was in response to a lawsuit that was among the first filed against Musk himself. It argued that DOGE’s actions were unconstitutional because he was wielding significant power without being elected or Senate approved.
A lower court judge agreed, but the three-judge appeals court panel sided with the Trump administration, at least for now. It found that while DOGE played a part in the dismantling of USAID, the cuts were approved by government officials.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that social-media posts like Musk’s declaration that he “fed USAID into the wood chipper” didn’t legally prove he was making the orders.
Rather, the evidence indicates he was acting as an adviser to President Donald Trump, carrying out his policies of rooting out what he calls waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, the court found.
“While defendants’ role and actions related to USAID are not conventional, unconventional does not necessarily equal unconstitutional,” U.S. Circuit Judge Marvin Quattlebaum, who was appointed by Trump, wrote. More evidence may be unearthed as the lawsuit keeps playing out but for now the record doesn’t support barring DOGE from USAID, he said.
If the plaintiffs say that the dismantling of USAID violates the constitutional separation of powers, those claims should be directed at the administration, the appeals court suggested.
Norm Eisen, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said they disagreed with the ruling but took some solace in the judges leaving open the possibility that the USAID dismantling was unconstitutional on other grounds.
“This fight is far from over — it’s just beginning,” Eisen said.
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Friday’s order halted a ruling from U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland in a lawsuit filed by former USAID employees. He found DOGE’s moves to dismantle the agency were likely unconstitutional.
Chuang had required the Trump administration to restore email and computer access to USAID employees, including those put on administrative leave, though he stopped short of reversing firings or fully resurrecting the agency.
Democratic lawmakers have challenged the Trump administration’s legal standing to eliminate the six-decade-old aid and development agency as an independent body, or to cut its congressionally mandated funding, without congressional approval.
The Trump administration and Musk accuse USAID of being wasteful and advancing a liberal agenda. Democratic lawmakers and other USAID supporters say the aid and development work overseas protects U.S. strategic interests and is best run by USAID program managers.
Trump cut off foreign assistance funding through USAID and State with an executive order Jan. 20, the day he took office. The administration and Musk since then have closed USAID headquarters, pulled all but a fraction of USAID staff around the world off the job, and abruptly terminated thousands of aid and development contracts.
As a result of the shutdown, USAID partners have had to cut or trim programs or lay off staff, including some of the ones that normally would be aiding in the response to Friday’s Southeast Asia quake, or to famine in Sudan and infectious disease outbreaks in Africa.
The administration initially gave USAID staffers abroad as few as 30 days to return home. Staffers protested, saying that made it impossible for them to sell houses, pull children from school, or return home to pack if they had been on medical leave.
Lewin’s note Friday did not exempt staffers abroad from the firings, but indicated they would be allowed a phased return to the U.S. — where many no longer have homes or jobs — over the summer.
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AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed.
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and ELLEN KNICKMEYER
Associated Press
