Fourteen states are taking aim at Elon Musk, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and President Donald Trump by filing a lawsuit alleging Musk’s spending cuts are unconstitutional.
New Mexico is leading the charge of attorneys general as the group alleges Musk’s role leading the DOGE “violates the Appointments Clause of the Constitution given that he has not been confirmed by the Senate,” The Hill reported.
“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 states wrote in a lawsuit filed Thursday.
“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,” the group continued.
The group consists of Arizona, Michigan, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington in addition to New Mexico.
— Karly Kingsley (@karlykingsley) February 14, 2025
14 State Attorneys General have filed a lawsuit which claims Pres. Trump has violated the Appointments Clause by creating a federal department without Congress’s approval and granting Musk broad powers without Senate consent.
(NM, AZ, MI, CA, CT, HI, MD, MA, MN, NV, OR, RI,… pic.twitter.com/dbVGvsMFtK
They want the court to bar Musk and his DOGE from taking certain actions.
This includes making changes to the disbursement of public funds, government contracts, regulations or personnel, as well as receiving access to or altering data systems, the outlet reported.
“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.
Another lawsuit was filed earlier Thursday by several current and former employees of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which is responsible for dispersing foreign aid.
The Trump administration is seeking to dismantle the USAID as well as laying off thousands of people who work for the agency.
