Trump's Trials - Federal judge says USAID shutdown likely violated the Constitution

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

A federal judge has ruled that Elon Musk and his DOGE team likely violated the Constitution when they effectively shut down USAID. Trump said the administration will appeal the decision. Support NPR and hear every episode sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

I'm Scott Detro and you're listening to Trump's terms from NPR. We're going to be doing all sorts of things nobody ever thought was even possible. It's going to be a very aggressive first hundred days of the new Congress. An unpredictable, transformative next four years. The United States is going to take off like a rocket ship. Each episode we bring you NPR's coverage of President Trump acting on his own terms. And that means sometimes doing things that no American president has tried before. NPR is covering it all in stories

like the one you are about to hear right after this. I'm Leila Faldon. And I'm A. Martinez. A federal judge has ruled that Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency likely violated the Constitution when they effectively shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development. But President Trump is promising to appeal the decision, calling the judge rogue for

interfering in Doja's efforts to effectively shut down USAID. For the past six weeks, the Trump administration has been dismantling the agency. It's now a shadow of its former self. Here to tell us more about what this new court decision means for the administration and for USAID, we're joined now by NPR's Fatma Tanis. So tell us about the case that prompted this ruling. So a couple dozen USAID employees and contractors sued Elon Musk and Doge saying that their actions to dismantle the agency were reckless, they were done in a slash and burn manner.

And that Musk and Doge didn't have the authority because Musk is not an appointed agency head who wasn't confirmed by the Senate. Now this case is one of several other ongoing lawsuits around the dismantling of USAID and it stands out because it directly sued Elon Musk and Doge, whereas other lawsuits have named President Trump and senior officials as well. The defense argued that Musk and Doge were only advising USAID officials and that the agency's leaders were actually responsible for what happened.

Yeah, but the judge disagreed. Yeah, he didn't buy it. Judge Theodore Chuang wrote a 68-page opinion detailing why. He said that the evidence showed that, quote, Musk made the decisions to shut down USAID's headquarters and website, even though he lacked the authority to make that decision. He said that Musk and Doge team members likely

violated the Constitution in multiple ways and deprived Congress of its authority to decide what to do with an agency that it created. Okay, so what does this all mean now for USAID? Well, there's not really much left of USAID. Most of its contracts have been terminated. The staff have been whittled down to just a couple of hundred people. Now, the judge has blocked Musk from any further steps to shut down USAID. And he ordered Doge to reinstate access for current staff

to emails and other electronic systems. But the impact of this ruling is quite minimal. It won't restore the work that the agency was doing before all of this. Humanitarian and development assistance programs, for example, are still cut. OK, now what kind of reaction have you heard from this? Well, people who are critical of Elon Musk and Doge are saying that this is a big deal

because there are concerns about what Musk and his team are doing across the federal government and what their authority is. And they say that the administration has been sending mixed messages. For example, President Trump has publicly praised Musk as he and his team got federal agencies. Trump has said Musk is doing an unbelievable job to eliminate waste and improve efficiency. But in these lawsuits, we're hearing something else. Government lawyers are saying that Musk is not in charge, that he's only there in an

advisory role. Now, NPR reached out to the White House to get more clarity on this, but we have not heard back from them. And Norm Eisen, who leads the group representing the plaintiffs in this lawsuit, called the ruling an important victory against Elon Musk and his attack not only on USAID, but the US government and the constitution, he said. And of course, as you mentioned earlier, President Trump weighed in yesterday and said, quote, I guarantee you we will be appealing.

So there's going to be more news to follow on this case. Yeah, more than likely. It's NPR's Fapa Tennis. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Before we wrap up, a reminder, you can find more coverage of the incoming Trump administration on the NPR Politics Podcast, where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news, with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks as always to our NPR Plus supporters who hear every episode of the show without sponsor messages.

You can learn more at plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's terms from NPR.