Fourteen states sued Elon Musk, his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and President Trump on Thursday, arguing that the tech billionaire’s sweeping efforts to cut government spending are unconstitutional.
The coalition of states, led by New Mexico, alleges that Musk’s expansive role as the head of DOGE violates the Appointments Clause of the Constitution given that he has not been confirmed by the Senate.
“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,” they wrote.
“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 continued.
The states, which also include Arizona, Michigan, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, are asking the court to bar Musk and his DOGE team from taking a wide range of actions.
They seek to prevent the Tesla CEO and his aides from making changes to the disbursement of public funds, government contracts, regulations or personnel, as well as receiving access to or altering data systems.
“Our constitutional order was founded in part to guard against the accumulation of state power in the hands of a single individual, and 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,” New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said on a press call.
Several current and former employees at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) raised similar arguments in a lawsuit filed earlier Thursday, after Musk and his DOGE team descended on the agency responsible for dispersing foreign aid.
The Trump administration has sought to effectively dismantle USAID, limiting the flow of foreign aid and attempting to lay off thousands of people working for the agency at home and abroad.
