California, other states sue over Elon Musk’s virtually ‘unchecked’ power

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California joined more than a dozen other states Thursday in suing the Trump administration over Elon Musk’s informal role as the president’s personal budget advisor, denouncing as unconstitutional the tech billionaire’s assumed authority to slash at the federal budget and zero out federal agencies.

“There is no greater threat to democracy than the accumulation of state power in the hands of a single, unelected individual,” the states’ lawsuit begins. “Although our constitutional system was designed to prevent the abuses of an 18th century monarch, the instruments of unchecked power are no less dangerous in the hands of a 21st century tech baron.”

President Trump has repeatedly defended Musk’s work in recent weeks and said Thursday that he is doing an “amazing job” identifying supposed fraud and waste. Musk has suggested his power is legitimate because Trump was elected in part on a promise that he would task Musk with eliminating waste.

Polling has shown many Americans do believe that there is substantial waste in the federal government and too much bureaucracy. It has also shown that many Americans are skeptical of Musk and his role in government.

The states’ lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., claims that Musk — under the banner of the Department of Government Efficiency, which President Trump created unilaterally — has “roamed through the federal government unraveling agencies, accessing sensitive data, and causing mass chaos and confusion for state and local governments, federal employees, and the American people.”

The complaint notes that the appointments clause of the Constitution — designed to prevent the cronyism of a king in the new federal government — requires that Congress create new positions in government, and that the Senate then confirm presidential appointees to prominent posts.

For weeks, Democrats have railed against Musk’s actions to eliminate federal funding approved by Congress, which controls the federal purse strings, alongside his DOGE deputies. The states’ lawsuit says Musk’s actions are both alarming and unconstitutional.

“Mr. Musk’s seemingly limitless and unchecked power to strip the government of its workforce and eliminate entire departments with the stroke of a pen or click of a mouse would have been shocking to those who won this country’s independence,” the lawsuit states. “There is no office of the United States, other than the President, with the full power of the Executive Branch, and the sweeping authority now vested in a single unelected and unconfirmed individual is antithetical to the nation’s entire constitutional structure.”

In his own statement, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta called Musk a “bull in a china shop,” and said Trump’s unilateral appointment of him to a “made up” but extremely powerful post was a “clear and dangerous effort to bypass the nomination and confirmation process required under the Constitution.”

“DOGE’s ransacking of federal agencies has sown tremendous chaos, instilled distrust among the American people, and has caused deep harm to our country,” Bonta said.

The lawsuit adds to a pile of litigation already challenging actions Musk and DOGE have taken, including their accessing of sensitive Treasury Department databases, their closing of the U.S. Agency for International Development and other steps.

California joined Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington in filing the lawsuit — which asks the court to “restore constitutional order,” bar Musk from issuing orders as if he holds any legitimate authority and declare his directives to date illegitimate.

At the White House Thursday, Trump was asked about DOGE officials apparently showing up at the Internal Revenue Service. He said the IRS would indeed be “looked at” by Musk’s team.

“They’re doing a hell of a job. It’s an amazing job they’re doing. And, you know that force — I call it the force of super geniuses — but it’s building,” Trump said. “They’re very smart people.”

Musk spent part of the day reposting praise of DOGE on his social media platform X. On a post about DOGE officials entering the IRS, Musk posted two fire emojis.

Democrats have lambasted Musk’s work in recent weeks, accusing him of willfully spreading misinformation about what federal funding is being spent on. And Musk acknowledged this week that he will be making some incorrect statements as he digs around looking for waste or fraud.

However, he has also suggested Democrats who are critical of his work are simply corrupt. On Thursday, Musk posted on X that “leading Democrats” were possibly critical of his work and claiming there wasn’t fraud “because they’re getting their cut” and they don’t want DOGE to discover it.

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