‘Unelected Individual’: 14 US States File Lawsuit Challenging Elon Musk's Position As DOGE Head

Fourteen US states have filed a federal lawsuit challenging billionaire Elon Musk's role as the head of the new Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE, created by President Donald Trump for his second term, which began on January 20. The states which have participated in the lawsuit include: New Mexico, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Nevada and Vermont have Republican governors.

The states accused Elon Musk of being a ‘designated agent of chaos’ whose ‘sweeping authority’ as DOGE head, they argued, is in violation of the Constitution of the United States, ABC News reported.

“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 a click of a mouse, would have been shocking to those who won this country's independence,” reads the complaint, filed on Thursday in a federal court in Washington, DC.

READ MORE: ‘Not Backward Class By Birth’: Revanth Reddy On PM Modi’s OBC Status, BJP Hits Back

“There is no greater threat to democracy than the accumulation of state power in the hands of a single, unelected individual,” the lawsuit said.

“The Appointments Clause of the Constitution, therefore, calls for someone with such significant and expansive authority as Musk to be formally nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate,” it added.

READ MORE: Mumbai Mega Block: Local Train Services To Be Affected On Central, Western And Harbour Lines On Sunday | Check List Here

This is the second lawsuit  against Musk challenging his position as DOGE head. A separate one, filed in a Maryland federal court, makes the same constitutional claim as the latest one.