Billionaire Elon Musk appears to have overstepped his executive branch authority with his Department of Government Efficiency, a federal judge said Tuesday as he indefinitely blocked the dismantling of USAID.

Elon Musk's role overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is likely a violation of the U.S. Constitution's appointments clause, a federal

Maryland-based Judge Theodore D. Chuang issued an injunction Tuesday in response to a lawsuit brought by former USAID employees and contractors, who argued Musk’s takeover of USAID—whose functions the Trump administration has largely shut down—was unconstitutional,