Tuesday, March 24, 2026

DOGE's Work Could Be Undone as Lawsuit Against Musk Proceeds

Musk's X posts bragging about DOGE may trigger reversals of its biggest wins.

Posted by lamplighter at 09:33 PM | 13 COMMENTS | permalink

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ICYMI: A hat trick of Elon Musk + DOGE legal news yesterday --> Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Halt DOGE Inquiry buff.ly/s80sIzd Viral DOGE Deposition Videos Can Remain Online, Judge Rules buff.ly/xBZmpZn US Must Face Suit Alleging Musk Power Overreach as Trump Adviser buff.ly/j7bwd0v

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-- Zoe Tillman (@zoetillman.bsky.social) Mar 24, 2026 at 9:45 AM

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More from the article ...
... According to the plaintiffs, Musk needed Senate confirmation before directing DOGE on drastic actions like eliminating agencies, mass firings, and steep budget cuts. Allegedly going far beyond the authority granted in President Donald Trump's most expansive DOGE executive orders, Musk took every inch of power granted and then increasingly used it to overreach unlike any presidential advisor who came before, the suit says.

In her opinion partly denying a motion to dismiss, US District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan did not buy the US government's defense that Musk held no office formally established by law -- and therefore did not need Senate confirmation and cannot be alleged to have exceeded his authority under the Constitution's Appointments Clause.

"Nobody thinks, for instance, that the White House Chief of Staff or White House Counsel are officers in any fashion, despite the fact they may exercise tremendous influence across the government," the government's motion to dismiss said.

Chutkan called the defense "disquieting."

"Defendants appear to make the extraordinary argument that an individual who holds an important office and wields immense power is not subject to the Appointments Clause so long as the office was unlawfully created, and the power was unlawfully seized," Chutkan said. ...

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-03-24 03:30 PM

Speaking of Doge and the cuts that were made. Remember when they were being proposed, like ussaid, and Dems were screaming that there would be millions of children dying? Haven't heard of any children dying since the cuts. Maybe it's because the money never went to the kids, the Dems stole it.

#2 | Posted by fishpaw at 2026-03-25 02:03 PM

"Haven't heard of any children dying since the cuts."

Just because YOU haven't heard of any children dying since the cuts" does not mean that a lot of children are not dying.

Estimated Deaths: A November 2025 report cited modelling by Boston University epidemiologist Brooke Nichols, indicating that the dismantling of USAID had already caused the deaths of approximately 600,000 people, with two-thirds of them children (approximately 400,000).

ImpactCounter Data: Another tracker, ImpactCounter, reported by January 2026 that 757,314 people had died due to the funding cuts, with the majority being children.

Cause of Deaths: The cuts caused widespread suspension of service, resulting in increased child deaths from diarrhea, pneumonia, and malnutrition. Specific cuts to nutrition, food programs, and HIV/AIDS supplies (PEPFAR) were significant drivers of this mortality.

Long-term Projections: Research published in The Lancet in July 2025 projected that if the funding cuts continued, more than 4.5 million children under the age of 5 could die by 2030.

GFY with your hateful self imposed ignorance.

#3 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-03-25 02:34 PM

Haven't heard of any children dying since the cuts.
#2 | Posted by fishpaw a

What a huge disappointment for you.

#4 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-03-25 02:35 PM

"Haven't heard of any children dying since the cuts."

neither has anyone else here.

they'll cite studies that estimate deaths around the world (which wasn't what you meant...but whatever) but they had to go find them.

It's not being reported, which is the point.

It should be.

#5 | Posted by eberly at 2026-03-25 03:01 PM

"Based on reports and studies from 2025-2026, the sweeping cuts to international USAID programs overseen by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are estimated to have caused hundreds of thousands of additional child deaths.

Key findings indicate:
Hundreds of Thousands of Deaths: Models indicated that up to 300,000 to 600,000 people died in 2025 due to the suspension of foreign aid, with estimates that roughly two-thirds of these deaths were children."

www.google.com

One supposes that non-US children don't count in TrumpWorld... especially when it was SO important to get Billionaires their tax cut bribe payments rather than wait a bit for other nations to make up the difference.

And US children?

"Firearm-related injuries are the leading cause of death for children and adolescents (ages 1"19) in the U.S. as of 2020, surpassing motor vehicle crashes."

#6 | Posted by Corky at 2026-03-25 04:07 PM

Marco Rubio said no one has died due to U.S. aid cuts.

So move along ... nothing to see here!

Mariam Mohammed, a widow, stands outside her home in Bama, Nigeria. She's holding her younger son Babagana's favorite clothes. He died in early February from complications of sickle cell disease. She had taken him to a U.S.-funded clinic for treatment, but at that time the facility was shuttered due to a stop-work order issued by the Trump administration.

But I don't know anything about it. How could I?

It's not being "reported".

#7 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-03-25 05:09 PM

USSECSTATE Marco Rubio:

#8 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-03-25 05:23 PM

" Marco Rubio said no one has died due to U.S. aid cuts."

Effing liar.

That's not how macro dials work.

Rubio just doesn't want to admit he has blood on his hands.

#9 | Posted by Danforth at 2026-03-25 05:47 PM

"Haven't heard anything"

You can't hear much with your head up your @r$3

#10 | Posted by hamburglar at 2026-03-25 07:59 PM

The damage has been done. To undo it means to fully heal, which will take decades

#11 | Posted by hamburglar at 2026-03-25 08:01 PM

"Haven't heard of any children dying since the cuts."
"neither has anyone else here."

You'd have to be a math moron to believe a severely curtailed program to feed the world's hungriest isn't guaranteed to have mortal victims.

I didn't hear anything because my head is in the sand isn't the flex you think it is.

And you're not sure there's been a single one?!?
hsph.harvard.edu

#12 | Posted by Danforth at 2026-03-25 08:14 PM

Children die as USAID aid cuts snap a lifeline for the world's most malnourished (March 2025)
apnews.com

...But in February, Mercy Corps abruptly ended the program that was entirely financed by USAID. Two weeks later, one of the twins died, Bulama said.

She has no more tears, only dread for what may come next.

"I don't want to bury another child," she said. ...


#13 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-03-25 08:42 PM

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