On Thursday, 14 states filed lawsuits against Elon Musk, his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and President Donald Trump, claiming that the tech billionaire’s “illegal” efforts to cut government spending are unconstitutional.
The group of states, led by New Mexico, argues that Musk’s role as head of DOGE is illegal because he hasn’t been approved by the Senate, which violates the Constitution’s Appointments Clause.
“Mr. Musk’s seemingly limitless and unchecked power to strip the government of its workforce 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 lawsuit states.
The states add that the amount of power Musk holds, as an unelected and unconfirmed individual, is dangerous. “There is no office of the United States, other than the President, with the full power of the Executive Branch, and the sweeping authority now vested in a single unelected and unconfirmed individual is antithetical to the nation’s entire constitutional structure,” they say.
The lawsuit includes states like Arizona, Michigan, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, alongside New Mexico. They are asking the court to block Musk and his team from making changes to public funds, government contracts, regulations, or personnel, and from accessing or altering government data.
“Our constitutional order was founded in part to guard against the accumulation of state power in the hands of a single individual,” said New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez. “While that construction was first focused on the abuse of power of an 18th century monarch, it is no less dangerous in the hands of a 21st century tech tycoon.”
In a separate lawsuit filed on the same day, former and current employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) raised similar concerns after Musk’s team targeted the agency. The lawsuit follows claims that the Trump administration tried to weaken USAID by limiting foreign aid and laying off thousands of its employees, both domestically and abroad.
