A judge refuses to toss states’ lawsuit against Elon Musk and DOGE

WASHINGTON AP A federal judge has refused to throw out a lawsuit that accuses billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Authorities Efficiency of illegally accessing administration records systems canceling regime contracts and firing federal employees U S District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled Tuesday that states can proceed with their states against Musk and DOGE The states through their attorneys general sued in February over the defendants alleged constitutional violations The states had appealed Chutkan to temporarily block DOGE from accessing any records systems or terminating any federal employees But the judge denied that request on Feb She revealed that there were legitimate questions about Musk s authority but commented there weren t grounds to justify a temporary restraining order Chutkan agreed Tuesday to dismiss President Donald Trump as a defendant in the lawsuit but she refused to dismiss the insists against Musk and DOGE FILE Elon Musk speaks at a town hall March in Green Bay Wis AP Photo Jeffrey Phelps File The plaintiffs attorneys argued that Musk s actions including those carried out at his direction by DOGE personnel are unconstitutional because he hasn t been legally appointed Chutkan wrote The Constitution does not permit the Executive to commandeer the entire appointments power by unilaterally creating a federal agency pursuant to Executive Order and insulating its principal officer from the Constitution as an advisor in name only This is precisely what Plaintiffs claim the Executive has done The Trump administration has maintained that layoffs are coming from agency heads and insisted that Musk hasn t been running DOGE s day-to-day operations Chutkan who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama previously oversaw the now-dismissed criminal poll interference scenario against Trump in Washington