Attorneys general from 14 American states have filed a lawsuit to challenge the authority of billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), in the latest attempt to prevent it from putting hundreds of federal officials on leave and gaining access to sensitive federal payment systems.
The suit, filed in federal court in Washington, DC, on Thursday, says the newly formed government department is exercising “virtually unchecked power” and argues that the actions taken by Musk at the helm of DOGE can only be taken by a nominated and Senate-confirmed official.
“We are asking the court to invalidate his directives and actions and to issue a restraining order,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said during an online news conference alongside attorneys general from Arizona and New Mexico.
The attorneys general said the court should bar Musk from issuing orders to anyone in the executive branch outside DOGE and declare that his actions have no legal effect.
They also asked the court to order Musk to identify ways that “any data obtained through unlawful agency access was used”, destroy “such unauthorized access in his or DOGE’s possession” and bar Musk and DOGE from ordering changes in the disbursement of public funds.
“There is no greater threat to democracy than the accumulation of state power in the hands of a single, unelected individual,” the lawsuit said.
It argued DOGE’s actions threatened the financial livelihood of public servants working in sectors including law enforcement, healthcare and education.
The Donald Trump administration on Thursday intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce – the nation’s largest employer – by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who had not yet gained civil service protection.
The move follows an executive order on Tuesday that told agency leaders to plan for “large-scale reductions in force”. On the same day, employees and various civil service unions filed a lawsuit demanding that DOGE be banned from accessing personnel records.
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez, who took part in the latest lawsuit, called Musk a “threat to democracy”.
“Although our constitutional system was designed to prevent the abuses of an 18th-century monarch, the instruments of unchecked power are no less dangerous in the hands of a 21st-century tech baron,” he said.
Torrez added that Trump was demonstrating “weakness” in deploying Musk rather than advancing his agenda through a Republican-controlled Congress.
“Move fast and breaking things may work in Silicon Valley for a tech company,” Torrez said. “It’s not good governance and it’s unconstitutional.”
DOGE was established by the Trump administration by executive order on January 20, 2025.
Unlike other government agencies, which are typically created by Congress with a mission and a fixed amount of funding, DOGE’s budget and staffing are largely a mystery.
