A US court has rejected a motion by the Justice Department to dismiss a lawsuit against Elon Musk over his role at the Office of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This was reported by Bloomberg. Federal District Judge Tanya Chatken is considering a class action lawsuit from 14 prosecutors in Democratic-controlled states. They believe that Musk’s work at DOGE violated the constitutional requirement that officials of that level be appointed to the position with Senate approval. At the same time, Chatken dismissed the charges against President Donald Trump, noting that he cannot be a defendant in the case, since the court has no right to impose restrictions on the president performing his duties.
Musk did not formally head the department, which, in turn, does not have the status of a department. The White House claimed that Musk works as a “special government employee” and senior adviser to US President Donald Trump. However, in their lawsuit, prosecutors pointed to the US president’s public statements that he would put Musk at the head of the department, as well as the businessman’s own comments on the decisions made by DOGE. The plaintiffs believe that Musk did not simply make recommendations to high-ranking officials from other departments, but “forced” them to take certain actions or overruled their own decisions.
In their motion, the Justice Department lawyers agreed that Musk had significant influence on domestic policy, but emphasized that he did not have formal executive powers, and the heads of other departments “took responsibility” for the decisions that the businessman recommended to them. Thus, the department believes that Musk’s actions did not violate the constitution.
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