A federal appeals court on Friday cleared the way for Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to resume their efforts to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The ruling from a three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a lower-court judge’s injunction that had temporarily blocked Musk and DOGE from playing any role in dismantling USAID.
The decision comes just as the Trump administration is making a final push to effectively dissolve the agency tasked with administering foreign aid. Earlier on Friday, the State Department officially notified Congress of its plans to eliminate the agency, according to Democratic lawmakers. And a member of DOGE who is also deputy USAID administrator sent a memo to USAID personnel worldwide, announcing that the overwhelming majority of the agency’s employees will have their jobs cut on either July 1 or Sept. 2.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang, a Maryland-based appointee of President Barack Obama, ruled that Musk and his DOGE allies were likely exercising an unconstitutional amount of power because Musk has not been formally appointed to a Senate-confirmed position. He blocked Musk and DOGE from proceeding with USAID cuts.
All three judges on the 4th Circuit panel agreed that Chuang’s block should be lifted, though they did not all agree on the reasoning.
Judge Marvin Quattlebaum, a Trump appointee on the appeals court, wrote that Musk’s actions are not unconstitutional because he is a valid presidential adviser, and his efforts to cut USAID were approved by officials with direct authority over the agency.
The administration, Quattlebaum wrote, had presented evidence that “in all pertinent actions, Musk acted as a Senior Advisor to the President and not as the Administrator of DOGE, and that all decisions pertaining to USAID were either made or approved by those so authorized.”
Judge Paul Niemeyer, who was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, joined Quattlebaum’s opinion.
Judge Roger Gregory, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, agreed with the end result — lifting Chuang’s injunction — but disagreed strongly with the rationale.
He wrote that Musk likely has been operating in violation of the Constitution’s appointments clause and that the dismantling of USAID likely violates the “express will” of Congress. But he said Musk and DOGE were not the appropriate defendants in the case. In his view, the plaintiffs — various USAID employees and contractors — should have sued officials with formal authority over the agency.
“We may never know how many lives will be lost or cut short by the Defendants’ decision to abruptly cancel billions of dollars in congressionally appropriated foreign aid,” Gregory wrote. “We may never know the lasting effect of Defendants’ actions on our national aspirations and goals. But those are not the questions before the Court today.”
The challengers can appeal the ruling further, and other lawsuits contesting various USAID cuts remain pending in other courts. Supporters of the agency also promised further litigation over the new cuts announced Friday.
For now, though, the 4th Circuit ruling removes a significant roadblock to one of President Donald Trump’s Day 1 priorities: pausing foreign assistance and shuttering the agency tasked with implementing it.
