Musk DOGE's White House Staff Dismissal as Federal Government Employee 'Unconstitutional'

Musk DOGE's White House Staff Dismissal as Federal Government Employee 'Unconstitutional'

A federal judge has pointed out that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Musk 'unconstitutionally' seized government organizations and government information without an official government position and dismissed government officials.
At a hearing held in the U.S. District Court in Washington on the 23rd, Federal Judge Colin Cola-Kotelli expressed concerns that "the constitutionality of Mr. Musk's organization and operation, known as the US DOGE SERVICE, is questionable" and that "this bill violates the Appointments Clause of the Constitution, which requires that the head of a federal agency be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate."
During the hearing, Judge Cola-Kotelli repeatedly asked the government's lawyer, Bradley Humphreys, to "identify the manager of this service," but Humphreys was unable to answer, the New York Times reported on the 24th.

Judge Cola-Kotelli then asked Humphries, who is on the government side, “What position does Musk hold?” Humphries responded, “Musk is neither a manager of DOGE nor an employee of that organization,” the Times reported.
The judge then asked, “What is Musk’s actual job?” Humphries responded, “I have no information other than that he is a close aide to the president.”

White House Press Secretary Joshua Fisher clearly stated in a written statement to the U.S. District Judge for the District of New Mexico on the evening of the 17th, “Musk is not an administrator of the U.S. Department of State.”
Fisher’s statement was included in a written statement to U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who is hearing a lawsuit filed by Democratic attorneys general over the mass layoffs led by Musk and DOGE. In paragraph 3 of the New Mexico court filing, Spokesperson Fisher stated that Mr. Musk is an “employee of the White House Office” and a “none-career Specail Government Employee (SGE).”
In paragraph 4 of the Spokesperson’s filing, he stated that his job title is “Seniol Advicer” to the President. (Docket No. 1:25-cv-00429)

Trump’s first executive order stated that the “DOGE Administrator Authority” would be to “assist agency heads in selecting DOGE team members” and to initiate a “software modernization initiative” to update government technology.
Trump’s second executive order stated that “the DOGE Administrator will receive monthly employment reports from each federal agency and will submit a report to Trump on the implementation of the order within 240 days.”
The executive order stated that the “report to the President on the implementation of the order” would be “DOGE The report was clearly written by the “Administrator,” but the White House denied the report, leaving it completely unknown who wrote it.
The “DOGE Administrator,” who sent the email notification of the mass layoffs to federal employees, led the order without substance and ordered a “business report” via email, but in the government’s response that day, Musk confirmed that there was no “designation,” “confirmation,” or “approval” process.

The federal judge specifically said of the new government agency, the “Department of Government Efficiency (USDS),” “Based on my limited record, I have some concerns about the constitutionality of the structure and operation of the USDS.”
Judge Kola-Kotelli’s comments at the hearing today regarding the Musk-led mass layoffs were part of a civil lawsuit filed by two labor unions and a group representing millions of American retirees.
The civil suit, filed by the laid-off employees and the unions, seeks a “restraint order” to prevent Musk’s team from accessing sensitive government employee and financial records maintained by the Treasury Department.

Last week in Manhattan A federal judge in a similar legal dispute has ordered the Treasury Department to “reopen access to payment and data systems” until another lawsuit is resolved, alleging that Musk’s Office of Government Efficiency’s access to federal records is unlawful.
The lawsuit is one of several challenging Mr. Musk’s broader efforts to scrutinize government spending and cut federal staffing, the Times reported, adding that it “led to dueling orders from Musk and heads of several federal agencies, and to swift layoff notices.”

“If you have people who are not authorized to perform some of these functions, that seems to be a problem,” Judge Kola-Kotelli told government lawyers that day. “I hope by now you know who is the administrator, who is the acting administrator, and what authority they have.” President Trump did not specify who will run the Department of Government Efficiency, which was launched by executive order on the first day of his inauguration.
President Trump's mention of Elon Musk was limited to saying that he would "lead the Department of Government Efficiency" with Vivek Ramaswamy, but the New York Times reported on the 18th that Ramaswamy had already stepped down last month.

The executive order that President Trump issued on the first day of his inauguration did not mention at all who the "executive officer" who was designated as the "report writer" would be.

Section 3(b) of the executive order stated that "the USDS administrator installed in the Oval Office shall report to the White House Chief of Staff."
The term in the executive order was not a department at the household level of the federal government, but the official name was initially written as United States DOGE Service and the abbreviation was USDS. Reporters repeatedly asked the White House press secretary last week to “identify the USDS administrator,” but the spokeswoman did not respond.

On the 22nd, Musk announced to X that he would exercise his personnel rights, saying, “As per the President’s instructions, all federal government employees will soon receive an email asking them to report on their work performance last week,” and “if they do not respond, they will be considered resigning.”

The 21 employees of Trump's newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) submitted their resignations en masse on the 24th, saying, "We refuse to use our technical expertise to dismantle critical public services. We swore an oath in the federal government to serve the American people and defend the Constitution. However, it has become clear that we can no longer deliver on that promise." In their resignations, they said, "Many of the DOGE administrators, appointed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, are political ideologues who lack the skills or experience to make government smaller, cut regulations, and cut costs," the AP reported.