14 States Slap Musk With New Lawsuit
Fourteen states, led by New Mexico, filed a lawsuit against tech billionaire Elon Musk, his newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and former President Donald Trump, arguing that Musk’s push to overhaul government spending is unconstitutional.
The coalition claims Musk’s powerful position at the head of DOGE violates the Constitution’s Appointments Clause, as he has not been confirmed by the Senate. They argue that allowing Musk, an unelected figure, to control vast portions of the government without proper oversight is dangerous and undermines the checks and balances system that the Founding Fathers built into the U.S. Constitution.
The states assert that Musk’s unchecked ability to restructure government agencies, cut jobs, and reduce entire departments without proper procedural review is a severe overreach of power. “Such centralized authority in the hands of one individual, especially an unelected one, would have been unimaginable to those who fought for our nation’s independence,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit, which includes Arizona, Michigan, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and New Mexico, seeks to prevent Musk and DOGE from making significant changes to government spending, federal contracts, regulations, or staffing. It also aims to block Musk’s team from accessing or altering government data systems.
New Mexico’s Attorney General, Raúl Torrez, emphasized the danger of concentrating so much power in the hands of one individual, comparing it to the fears the framers of the Constitution had about the tyranny of a monarch. “This kind of unchecked control, no matter the century, is a threat to our constitutional order,” he said.
Additionally, some employees from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) raised similar concerns in their own lawsuit, highlighting how Musk’s efforts to reform foreign aid operations could dismantle vital programs and lay off thousands. This move follows the Trump administration’s attempts to significantly cut foreign aid and reduce USAID’s workforce.
