[Epoch Times] Current and former employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), claiming that Musk should have been first confirmed by the Senate. The White House has stated that Musk is a special government employee, meaning that he is not beholden to the same kinds of rules as other federal workers.
Only a few federal executive officers need to be confirmed by the Senate. All the rest are hired either directly by the president or by those designated by him as they work to fulfill their duties. I suspect that every one of the current and former USAID employees involved in this lawsuit was not one of the few who needed Senate confirmation, so they already knew this. |
Musk and DOGE were then accused of trying to dismantle an agency "from within by severely disrupting or crippling operations" while posting about their actions on X.
As intended, buttressed by the results of the first DOGE deep dive into USAID records, which revealed shocking levels of illegality, immorality, and egregiously careless handling of the funds and responsibilities entrusted to the department in recent years. | Lawyers for the USAID workers, who remained anonymous in the lawsuit, then deployed a novel argument, saying Musk should be confirmed by the Senate because he should be deemed an officer of the United States under the U.S. Constitution’s appropriations clause.
Because you say so? An arrogance that fits in well with the behaviours that got USAID shut down. | The lawsuit is one of many legal challenges filed in favor of USAID officials against the Trump administration. Last week, a federal judge paused plans to place thousands of USAID workers on leave, while a lawsuit filed on Feb. 11 alleged that the unraveling of USAID is stiffing U.S. businesses on hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid bills for work that has already been done.
Work that never should have been ordered, and therefore ought not be allowed to be profitted from. There’s a well-known legal principle involved, I’m sure, along with the second that ignorance of the law is no excuse. |
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