Washington — A federal judge on Tuesday declined to stop Elon Musk and the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, from accessing data systems at seven federal agencies and firing or putting their employees on leave.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected a request for a temporary restraining order sought by 14 Democrat-led states as they pursue a challenge to Musk’s actions. The states have argued that Musk, who the White House said is categorized as a special government employee, has unchecked authority and is violating the Constitution’s Appointments Clause.
But in a 10-page decision, Chutkan found that the states have failed to show that they will suffer imminent, irreparable harm without relief.
“The court is aware that DOGE’s unpredictable actions have resulted in considerable uncertainty and confusion for plaintiffs and many of their agencies and residents,” she wrote. “But the ‘possibility’ that defendants may take actions that irreparably harm plaintiffs ‘is not enough.'”
Chutkan, though, added that the states’ claim that Musk’s actions violate Appointments Clause has “serious implications.” Citing Supreme Court precedent, she wrote that they are the “executive abuses” that the constitutional provision seeks to prevent.
“Musk has not been nominated by the president nor confirmed by the U.S. Senate, as constitutionally required for officers who exercise ‘significant authority pursuant to the laws of the United States,'” she said. “Bypassing this ‘significant structural safeguard of the constitutional scheme,’ Musk has rapidly taken steps to fundamentally reshape the Executive Branch.”
President Trump issued an executive order establishing the Musk-led DOGE on his first day in office and tasked the agency with reducing the size of the government and cutting federal spending. Since then, DOGE’s employees have been dispatched to more than a dozen agencies to implement Mr. Trump’s agenda. In a court filing on Monday, the White House sought to clarify that Musk is not the formal head of DOGE, but oversees the effort as a senior White House adviser.
DOGE’s actions raised alarms for Democrats and labor unions representing federal workers after it was revealed that Musk and his team had gained access to government systems. Musk has publicly called for entire agencies to be “deleted,” and DOGE has claimed on social media that it is responsible for contracts being canceled.
In an effort to combat DOGE’s efforts, several states and the unions have filed federal lawsuits seeking to stop the task force from having access to information and payment systems.
The case before Chutkan was filed last week and claims that Musk’s actions are a violation of the Appointments Clause and exceed the scope of his authority.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X, is an “unelected, unconfirmed government official” who is “exercising unprecedented executive authority,” the states said in a court filing.
“An individual accountable only to the president — if he answers to anyone at all — is exercising apparently limitless power within the Executive Branch,” the states wrote in their complaint. “Mr. Musk’s conduct has wreaked havoc on the federal government and caused mass chaos and confusion for state and local governments, federal employees, the American public, and people around the world who depend on the United States for leadership and support.”
The states asked Chutkan to issue a temporary restraining order that would temporarily bar Musk and DOGE from accessing data systems at the Office of Personnel Management and the Departments of Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, Energy, Transportation and Commerce. They also asked her to prevent him from terminating, furloughing or placing on involuntary leave any federal employees at those agencies.
The Justice Department, though, argued that the states cannot identify any imminent, irreparable harm — one of the four factors they have to prove to receive relief — that warranted the court’s intervention. The Trump administration also said the relief sought by the states was too broad and would sweep in anyone affiliated with DOGE, including Mr. Trump and Senate-confirmed administration officials.
Justice Department lawyers wrote in a court filing that the states’ claim that Musk has the authority to make decisions for the government is “wrong,” and “rests entirely on conflating influence and authority.”
“An advisor does not become an officer simply because the officer listens to his advice. And stripped of their lengthy rhetoric, the states do not actually cite a single example of where Elon Musk (or anyone at USDS) has been given formal authority to exercise the sovereign power of the United States,” they wrote, referring to the U.S. DOGE Service, the entity’s formal name.
A declaration filed by Joshua Fisher, director of the White House’s Office of Administration, noted that Musk serves as a senior advisor to the president, as well as a special government employee. He has “no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself,” Fisher stated in the filing. Musk is also not the administrator of DOGE, according to the declaration.
Chutkan held a hearing to consider the states’ request on Monday, and she appeared skeptical that the states had shown that they would be imminently harmed by Musk and DOGE’s actions.
A “generalized fear that this is going to happen, even if it looks like it’s likely to happen,” is not enough to satisfy the need for a temporary restraining order, she said.
“I’m not seeing it so far,” Chutkan told a lawyer for the states, adding that they were effectively seeking a “prophylactic” temporary restraining order, which she said is “not allowed.”
But Anjana Samant, a lawyer for the state of New Mexico, which is leading the suit, called DOGE and its actions a “one-of-a-kind situation.”
The nation has never experienced “this type of wielding of power in this way,” she said
Chutkan warned that the alleged actions by Musk and DOGE are “concerning” and “troubling.” She said the mass firings of thousands of federal workers is “not a small or common thing” and noted that Musk has not been nominated to a position by the president nor confirmed by the Senate.
Musk, Chutkan said, is a private citizen tasked with directing an organization, DOGE, to have access to “the entire workings of the federal government.” She noted that, according to the states, the task force has fired workers, cut contracts and terminated programs, “all without apparently any congressional oversight.”
“The allegation isn’t that agencies can’t manage their own workforce,” she said. “The allegation is that DOGE is coming into these agencies and accessing data and firing people, terminating contracts. They’re essentially running the government. That’s the problem.”
But Harry Graver, a Justice Department lawyer, said “there is not a single instance of Musk or USDS commanding these actions,” and they are instead being taken by high-ranking agency officials.
In a filing Monday submitted after the hearing, Justice Department lawyers reiterated that the Trump administration is “not aware of any source of legal authority granting USDS or the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization the power to order personnel actions at any of the agencies listed above.”
Chutkan oversaw the federal prosecution of Mr. Trump that was brought by former special counsel Jack Smith in Washington, D.C. The president faced four counts stemming from what prosecutors alleged was an unlawful plot to subvert the transfer of presidential power after the 2020 election.
Chutkan granted a request from Smith to dismiss the case after Mr. Trump won the presidential election in November because of a Justice Department policy that forbids the prosecution of a sitting president.
