A federal appeals court on Friday ruled that billionaire and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which he leads, is allowed to make further cuts to the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
The panel of three judges in the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia said that DOGE’s cost-cutting initiatives do not violate the Constitution.
Why did the judge block DOGE’s attempts to shut down USAID?
The ruling overturns a decision by US District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland, who found that DOGE’s attempts to dismantle USAID were likely illegal because Musk was acting beyond his remit as he is not an elected official and has not been confirmed by the Senate.
Chuang had ordered the administration to restore USAID employees’ access to their email and computers, but had stopped short of reversing Trump’s decision to lay off the agency’s workers.
Why has Trump appointed Musk?
After his inauguration in January, Trump appointed — one of which included a 90-day freeze on all foreign aid.
Musk and DOGE then froze USAID’s payments and email access and placed a bulk of the staff on leave.
On February 3, Musk wrote on X that he had “spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper.”
DOGE has been shaking up the US government apparatus since the start of Trump’s second term by cutting bureaucracy and severerly limiting public spending.
What else did the appeals court say?
In its Friday ruling, the appeals court said that although DOGE had helped dismantle the aid agency, the cuts had been approved by government officials.
The court also found that Musk’s “wood chipper” post did not prove he was the one making the orders, but was acting as an advisor to Trump.
The US president has turned to Musk to help him drastically cut federal spending, weeding out what Trump has called fraud and waste across the federal government.
Circuit Judge Marvin Quattlebaum — who was appointed by Trump — said that although Musk and DOGE’s actions over USAID were not “conventional,” they did not amount to being illegal or unconstitutional.
Earlier on Friday, the Trump administration told the US Congress that it would shut down USAID and fire most remaining jobs.
Thousands of staff at USAID have been informed that all positions that are not legally required will be eliminated in the coming months.
The announcement that the agency will be completely shut down came on the same day that Trump said the US would send assistance to help the victims of a devastating earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand.
USAID would normally play a key role in the international response to earthquakes and other natural disasters.
Edited by: John Silk
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