On Friday the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals delivered good news for the Trump administration, specifically the work they're doing with Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The appeals court has stayed a district court's injunction and is allowing the administration to move forward with cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The administration announced a freeze of funding for review early last month in order to get to the bottom of waste, fraud, and abuse.
JUST IN: The 4th circuit court of appeals has cleared the way for Elon Musk and DOGE to continue operating in USAID, staying a lower court’s ruling that barred DOGE’s activities. pic.twitter.com/nOutYGc6Mo
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 28, 2025
Judge Theodore Chuang, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, for the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, had ruled that Musk was supposedly acting independently enough to require Senate confirmation. This is also not the only case looking to that detail.
As The Hill reported:
In a win for the Trump administration, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily lifted a lower ruling that found Musk was exercising enough independent authority to require Senate confirmation under the Constitution’s Appointments Clause.
“While defendants’ role and actions related to USAID are not conventional, unconventional does not necessarily equal unconstitutional,” U.S. Circuit Judge Marvin Quattlebaum wrote.
“And none of this is to say that plaintiffs will not be able to develop evidence of unconstitutional conduct as the case progresses. Time will tell,” he added.
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Twenty-six current and former USAID employees are suing Musk, contesting the administration’s position that he has no actual independent authority and didn’t ratify the decisions to dismantle the agency. The administration asserts the billionaire is not a formal part of DOGE and is instead a senior adviser to the president within the White House.
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The 4th Circuit panel unanimously agreed that Chuang’s ruling should be wiped as the administration’s appeal proceeds. But only two of the judges on Friday found that Musk was likely acting constitutionally.
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The case is one of dozens of lawsuits that seek to stymie DOGE’s operations. A similar suit asserting that Musk must be confirmed by the Senate filed by Democratic state attorneys general remains pending.
USAID has also been in the news as the State Department is looking to dismantle the agency and bring it into the department. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was named acting director of the agency back in early February, the same day the freeze was announced.
According to ABC News, a memo distributed on Friday, hours before the appeals court's decision, indicated that the department "intends to assume responsibility for many of USAID's functions and its ongoing programming."
As Jeff covered earlier this week, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled in favor of the Trump administration on the matter after the administration filed an emergency motion for a stay pending appeal. That stay remained in place until the end of Thursday. With Friday's order, Chuang's preliminary injunction was "stayed and hereby is stayed pending the resolution of this appeal."
Elon Musk and DOGE are bringing much-needed accountability to our out-of-control bureaucracy as they take a chainsaw to rampant waste, fraud, and abuse.
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