US President Donald Trump stood in the Oval Office of the White House, on the same day, Robert F. Kennedy Jr was sworn in as Secretary of Health and Human Services, on February 13, 2025, the United States Washington, DC, Washington, DC, USA.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
Donald TrumpThe judge ruled over the Democratic Attorney General on Tuesday as he set off a challenge from a group of states to the Republican presidential chief administration’s chief administration to challenge Elon Musk’s authority.
Washington-based U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan denied their request to ban billionaires Tesla CEO Musk’s government efficiency department (or threshold) from accessing federal agencies’ computer systems or directing government workers’ shootings as litigation proceeds.
Kukan said the states “legally question what it seems to be an unrestricted authority of an unelected individual and an entity created by Congress without supervised authority.” But the judge said they did not prove that they have the right Obtain a temporary restraining order.
The Attorney General believes that their ability to execute education and other programs is at risk. They accused Musk’s team of illegally accessing federal agencies’ data and directed the removal of 2.3 million federal laborers. The lawsuit was filed in more than a dozen states and was announced by state attorneys generals in New Mexico, Michigan and Arizona.
The attorney general’s attorney general did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the White House.
The Governor is composed of Trump. Since Trump returned to office last month, it has swept federal agencies, cut thousands of jobs and demolished various plans and held Musk in charge of rooting the spending they believe wasted, a president’s overhaul of the administration Part.
The state attorney general argues that Musk waved powers that could only be exercised by the government officials nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in the U.S. Constitution, known as the appointment clause. The states also said Congress has not authorized Doge itself yet.
The lawsuit seeks to prohibit access to the information system in the Labor, Education, Health and Public Services Departments of the Office of Labor, Education, Health and Human Services, Energy, Transportation and Commerce, and Personnel Management.
They also asked chutkan, appointed by former Democratic President Barack Obama, to prevent Musk and his members of the Governor’s team from firing federal employees or taking leave.
A government lawyer told Chutkan on February 14 that he could not confirm the massive government layoffs.
About 20 lawsuits have been filed in various federal courts, challenging Musk’s authority, which has led to different outcomes.
New York’s U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas expanded the temporary block Friday, preventing Musk’s team from accessing the fiscal system responsible for trillions of dollars in payments.
But also on Friday, Washington’s U.S. District Court Judge John Bates rejected unions and nonprofits’ requests to temporarily block Musk’s team from visiting the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection record.
Most judges dealing with threshold cases have not issued a ruling.
