The Trump administration has been prevented from taking any further action to close the US Agency for International Development (USAID) by a federal judge.
Judge Theodore Chuang ruled on Tuesday that the initiatives, spearheaded by Elon Musk’s Department for Government Efficiency (Doge), a Trump friend, most likely violated the US Constitution “in multiple ways.”
Chuang directed Doge to give staff members, including those on leave, access to USAID’s computer and payment systems again.
Although the judge did not mandate the reinstatement of previously placed staff on leave, she did decide that USAID personnel should no longer be terminated.
The judge ruled that USAID employees should no longer be fired, even though she did not order the reinstatement of previously placed staff who were on leave.
The decision was made in a case filed on behalf of 26 unidentified USAID employees who claim in court documents that Musk is demolishing US government agencies in “a predictable and reckless slash-and-burn pattern.”
Attorneys for the workers said Musk’s authority was unlawful in a complaint filed on February 13 and requested that Doge’s actions be stopped and undone.
The decision is the Trump administration’s most recent court loss.
Another federal judge halted the deportation of suspected Venezuelan gang members on Monday.
In one case, the judge asked Department of Justice attorneys why his decision, which was issued while multiple deportation flights were in the air, was not promptly obeyed.
The chief justice of the US Supreme Court issued a rare reprimand in response to President Trump’s call for the judge in that case to be removed from office.
