A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Monday appeared skeptical of the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Trump administration that would bar Elon Musk and DOGE from accessing federal agency data and firing federal employees.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Sue Chutkan repeatedly questioned whether the plaintiffs had “concrete” evidence of imminent harm necessary for the “extraordinary” relief they sought, indicating she was not inclined to grant the request. At one point in the hourlong hearing, Chutkan referred to the plaintiffs’ request as an apparent “prophylactic TRO,” which she said is “not allowed.”
However, the hearing did not seem to go particularly well for the Justice Department either, as Chutkan seemed incredulous when the DOJ’s attorney claimed that Musk had “no formal or actual authority to make any government decisions.”
The case stems from a lawsuit filed last week by a coalition of 14 states claiming that President Donald Trump’s grant of sweeping power to Musk and his associates at DOGE violated the U.S. Constitution’s Appointments Clause by delegating “virtually unchecked authority” to the tech billionaire without proper legal authority from Congress or “meaningful supervision of his activities.”
The suit, which names as defendants Trump, Musk, and DOGE, further asserts that the executive branch lacks the authority to unilaterally create or dismantle a federal agency.
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