Latest / Elon Musk Podcast / Judge rules suit challenging DOGE and Elon Musk's power over government can move forward

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Judge rules suit challenging DOGE and Elon Musk's power over government can move forward · Elon Musk Podcast

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  A federal judge ruled this week that a lawsuit targeting Elon
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  Musk in the Department of Government Efficiency can move
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  forward. The lawsuit, filed by 14 states,
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  accuses Musk and Doge of violating the US Constitution by
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  making high level government decisions without proper
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  appointments or congressional approval.
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  US District Court Judge Tanya Chutgun rejected the White
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  House's attempt to dismiss the case, saying Musk's role appears
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  to be continuing and permanent. And the judge found the states
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  provided enough evidence to argue that Musk is making
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  decisions that would normally require Senate confirmed
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  authority. Now, the lawsuit argues that
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  Doge was never created or approved by Congress and that
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  Trump gave Musk sweeping power illegally.
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  The group has been cutting agencies, firing federal
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  workers, canceling contracts and gaining access to your sensitive
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  data, all without the legal authority then normally applies
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  to federal officials now. The White House claimed Musk
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  only served as an advisor with no real power.
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  That argument didn't hold up, though.
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  Public statements from Trump and administration officials have
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  consistently referred to Musk as the one leading doge.
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  Even Musk himself has repeatedly discussed the cuts and
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  structural changes he's directed.
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  Judge Chutkin wrote that Musk appears to control decisions
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  about government spending, federal contracts and the
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  survival of entire agencies. These responsibilities, she
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  said, are significant authority that can't be exercised without
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  formal appointment. And the court dismissed Trump as
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  a defendant But let all claims against Musk and DOGE stand.
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  Musk's federal role has already reshaped how parts of the
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  government operate. He's claimed that DOGE has saved
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  billions by eliminating waste and fraud, while watchdogs and
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  budget analysts say many of those savings are inflated or
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  unverified. Several federal programs report
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  disruption and increased cost due to Doge's actions.
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  Now, Musk has started retreating from DC, but he's venting about
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  his experience in interviews. Speaking to CBS Sunday Morning,
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  he said he was disappointed by the recently passed Big
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  Beautiful bill from House Republicans.
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  Musk criticized the bill for increasing the federal deficit
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  and undermining Doja's work, calling it both bloated and
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  counterproductive. And he told The Washington Post
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  that he underestimated how difficult it would be to work
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  inside the federal system. He said the federal bureaucracy
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  situation is much worse than I realized.
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  DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything.
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  Now he's saying they often got blamed for issues that they
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  actually didn't cause. Musk also pointed out that
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  despite Doge's aggressive cost cutting, the White House has
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  only prepared a $9 billion rescission request to Congress.
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  That's just a small portion of the $2 trillion in savings that
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  Musk initially promised, and it suggests that many of Doge's
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  cuts may have not been legal without congressional approval.
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  Many of doge's most aggressive moves are now on hold.
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  A lawsuit brought by the states couldn't validate much of Doge's
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  work and place new limits on how presidents can delegate
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  authority to private individuals.
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  Meanwhile, Democrats are pointing to Musk's role as a
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  symbol of what they say is Trump's disregard for normal
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  legal procedures. And the court's next steps will
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  include gathering evidence and reviewing how much real power
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  Musk had and whether that power was legal.
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  If the court finds Musk's role unconstitutional, Doja's actions
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  could be rolled back and the case could reset how the
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  executive branch works with private figures moving forward.
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  The lawsuit questioning Elon Musk's federal authority is
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  moving forward, and the outcome could reshape how the government
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  appoints and delegates power.