A group of 14 states sued DOGE, ”agent of chaos” Elon Musk and President Donald Trump on Thursday, arguing that the authority the White House granted the tech billionaire and his Department of Government Efficiency is unconstitutional.
“The founders of this country would be outraged that 250 years after our nation overthrew a king, the people of this country – many of whom have fought and died to protect our freedoms – are now subject to the whims of a single unelected billionaire,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a statement after the lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
The lawsuit argues that Trump has “delegated virtually unchecked authority to Mr. Musk without proper legal authorization from Congress, and without meaningful supervision of his activities. As a result, [Musk] has transformed a minor position that was formerly responsible for managing government websites into a designated agent of chaos without limitation and in violation of the separation of powers.”
There is “no greater threat to democracy than the accumulation of state power in the hands of a single, unelected individual," states the lawsuit
The coalition of states – all with Democratic attorneys general and led by New Mexico – argues that Musk’s expansive role as the head of DOGE violates the Appointments Clause of the Constitution because 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,” the suit notes.
“Ther sweeping authority now vested in a single unelected and unconfirmed individual is antithetical to the nation’s entire constitutional structure,” it notes.
The states – Michigan, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, in addition to New Mexico and Arizona – are seeking a court order to block Musk and his aides from making changes to the disbursement of public funds, government contracts, regulations or personnel, as well as barring 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 told reporters.
Similar arguments were raised in a lawsuit filed earlier Thursday by current and former employees of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) after Musk and his young DOGE team effectively shuttered the agency and moved its few remaining tasks within the auspices of theState Department.
That suit accused the South African-born and raised Musk – who has not been elected, nor is he a U.S. official – of exercising an “extraordinary amount of power ... that appears unprecedented in U.S. history.” The suit called it a “government takeover.”
