Fourth Circuit Temporarily Allows DOGE to Continue Dismantling USAID

The new ruling came a week after a federal district court judge blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle USAID.

The lobby of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) headquarters in Washington on Feb. 3, 2025. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

A federal appeals court on March 25 temporarily put on hold a lower court order that blocked efforts led by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to downsize the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a brief, unsigned order that the preliminary injunction issued March 18 by Maryland-based District Judge Theodore Chuang “hereby is stayed until the close of business of Thursday, March 27, 2025.”

No reasoning for the decision was provided in the order.

On Feb. 4, in response to a reporter’s question whether he planned to “wind down” USAID, President Donald Trump said, “I think so.”

He also said that DOGE leader Elon Musk has “done a great job.”

Chuang’s injunction contained a finding that actions by Musk and the DOGE team to dismantle USAID, which provides humanitarian aid, probably violated the U.S. Constitution.

Shutting down the USAID headquarters, laying off most of the agency’s workforce, and ending the bulk of USAID’s contracts violate the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers, Chuang wrote in the March 18 order.

The Trump administration had argued that Article II of the Constitution, which lays out the powers of the executive branch, allows the president to downsize the agency as part of his authority to manage the nation’s foreign relations.

Chuang rejected that argument, writing that the president’s actions here “relate largely to the structure of and resources made available to a federal agency, not to the direct conduct of foreign policy or engagement with foreign governments.”

The actions by Musk and DOGE “harmed ... the public interest, because they deprived the public’s elected representatives in Congress of their constitutional authority to decide whether, when, and how to close down an agency created by Congress.”

The judge directed Musk and DOGE to reinstate access for USAID workers and contractors to USAID systems and ordered them not to take further action regarding terminating contracts or agency workers’ employment.

The Fourth Circuit’s new order came after the Department of Justice filed an emergency application on March 21 seeking an administrative stay pending an appeal of Chuang’s order.

The application said the injunction should be stayed because Chuang was wrong to determine that Musk “is likely an officer” of the United States whose appointment must be confirmed by the Senate.

Musk “is not an officer because he does not exercise ‘significant authority pursuant to the laws of the United States,'” the document stated, citing the 1991 Supreme Court ruling in Freytag v. Commissioner.

Musk occupies a “purely advisory role [that] falls short of anything that has been recognized as ‘significant authority’ for officer status.”

He cannot make “final decisions that bind the Executive Branch,” and he cannot “make policy” on its behalf, the application said.

On March 5, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration must follow through with the payment of $2 billion in foreign aid.

The nation’s highest court left intact a temporary restraining order issued on Feb. 26 by U.S. District Judge Amir Ali of the District of Columbia that compelled USAID and the Department of State to restore funding for contracts that predated Jan. 20—the date of Trump’s inauguration—but were frozen by the Trump administration.

The Supreme Court directed Ali to “clarify what obligations the Government must fulfill to ensure compliance with the temporary restraining order, with due regard for the feasibility of any compliance timelines.”

On Jan. 20, Trump issued Executive Order 14169 ordering a “90-day pause in United States foreign development assistance for assessment of programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy.”

DOGE began operating on the first day of Trump’s second term. The organization recommends cost-cutting measures that the Trump administration may choose to carry out.

Trump issued Executive Order 14158 on Jan. 20, implementing DOGE. The order reorganized the U.S. Digital Service—which President Barack Obama created in 2014 within the Executive Office of the President—as the U.S. DOGE Service, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

The executive order directed the entity to “implement the President’s DOGE Agenda, by modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”

Zachary Stieber and Reuters contributed to this report.