Judge Blocks Effort to Stop Musk’s Cuts
By Casey Harper | The Center Square
(Worthy News) – A federal judge Tuesday ruled against a coalition of states seeking a temporary restraining order to end billionaire Elon Musk’s work to slash federal spending via the Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk has been at the center of controversy since President Donald Trump took office and tasked Musk with slashing federal spending.
Musk and his team have been digging through data looking for areas to cut across the federal government.
Also on Tuesday, DOGE touted cutting more than $50 billion in federal spending it deemed wasteful.
A coalition of more than a dozen Democrat-led states sued for a temporary restraining order to block Musk from making cuts at seven federal agencies, but U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled in Musk’s favor.
“The court is aware that DOGE’s unpredictable actions have resulted in considerable uncertainty and confusion for Plaintiffs and many of their agencies and residents…” Chutkan ruled. “But the ‘possibility’ that Defendants may take actions that irreparably harm Plaintiffs ‘is not enough.’”
While the court did not grant the temporary restraining order, it seemed to suggest that other legal grounds may be available to challenge Musk’s authority.
“Plaintiffs legitimately call into question what appears to be the unchecked authority of an unelected individual and an entity that was not created by Congress and over which it has no oversight,” the ruling said. “In these circumstances, it must be indisputable that this court acts within the bounds of its authority. Accordingly, it cannot issue a TRO, especially one as wide-ranging as Plaintiffs request, without clear evidence of imminent, irreparable harm to these Plaintiffs. The current record does not meet that standard.”