The new ruling came a week after a federal district judge blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle USAID.
A federal appeals court on March 25 temporarily put a lower court order on hold that blocked Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)-led efforts at downsizing the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
No reasoning for the decision was provided in the order.
On Feb. 4, in response to a reporter’s question if President Donald Trump planned to “wind down” USAID, the president said “I think so.”
Judge Chuang’s injunction contained a finding that actions by Musk and the DOGE team to dismantle USAID, which provides humanitarian aid, probably violated the U.S. Constitution.
The Trump administration had argued that Article II of the Constitution, which lays out the powers of the executive branch, allows the president to downsize the agency as part of his authority to manage the nation’s foreign relations.
The actions by Musk and DOGE “harmed … the public interest, because they deprived the public’s elected representatives in Congress of their constitutional authority to decide whether, when, and how to close down an agency created by Congress.”
The judge directed Musk and DOGE to reinstate access for USAID workers and contractors to USAID systems and ordered them not to take further action regarding terminating contracts or agency workers’ employment.
The application said the injunction should be stayed because Chuang was wrong to determine that Musk “is likely an officer” of the United States whose appointment must be confirmed by the Senate.
Musk “is not an officer because he does not exercise ‘significant authority pursuant to the laws of the United States,” the document stated, citing the 1991 Supreme Court ruling in Freytag v. Commissioner.
Musk occupies a “purely advisory role [that] falls short of anything that has been recognized as ‘significant authority’ for officer status.”
He cannot make “final decisions that bind the Executive Branch,” and he cannot “make policy” on its behalf, the application said.
The nation’s highest court left intact a temporary restraining order issued on Feb. 26 by U.S. District Judge Amir Ali of the District of Columbia that compelled USAID and the Department of State to restore funding for contracts that predated Jan. 20—the date of Trump’s inauguration—but were frozen by the Trump administration.
The Supreme Court directed Ali to “clarify what obligations the Government must fulfill to ensure compliance with the temporary restraining order, with due regard for the feasibility of any compliance timelines.”
DOGE began operating on the first day of Trump’s second term. The organization recommends cost-cutting measures which the Trump administration may choose to carry out.
The executive order directed the entity to “implement the President’s DOGE Agenda, by modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”
Zachary Stieber and Reuters contributed to this report.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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