State AGs get greenlight to drag Musk and DOGE to court

A federal judge on Tuesday allowed a coalition of 14 states to proceed with a lawsuit against Elon Musk over his leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a spending reform effort under President Donald Trump. The case, filed in a Washington federal court, deems Musk’s cost-cutting operations “unlawful.”

According to a Wednesday Reuters report, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected a motion from the Trump administration to dismiss the case, though she ruled that President Trump himself cannot be sued over the matter because of the constitutional protections of his executive role. 

The court found that claims against Musk and DOGE presented a “plausible” argument that his actions were unauthorized by law.

DOGE lawsuits to continue after court ‘greenlight’

The lawsuit, filed in February by the attorneys general of New Mexico, Oregon, and a dozen other states, alleges that Musk was granted unchecked authority to restructure the federal government without being approved by the US Senate. 

According to the complaint, the DOGE initiative, co-founded and headed by Musk, has shuttered agencies and eliminated thousands of government jobs without congressional approval.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield argued there is a constitutional requirement for Senate confirmation of individuals exercising such significant authority. 

“The court is right: the Constitution says Musk can’t run the federal government unless the Senate confirms him,” Rayfield told reporters on Tuesday.

Since Trump’s return to office in January following his re-election, Musk has led DOGE’s campaign to slash what the administration deems wasteful federal spending. Several departments have seen layoffs, and programs viewed as politically opposed to Trump’s agenda have been dismantled. 

Several federal courts have seen at least 20 lawsuits disputing Musk’s position in Washington. 

Musk and Tesla in disarray due to White House ties

Musk’s business ventures have suffered significant reputational damage over his ties with the Trump administration. Marketing professor Scott Galloway, co-host of the Pivot podcast, told listeners that the Tesla CEO’s involvement with DOGE is “one of the greatest brand destructions ever.”

On the podcast, Galloway explained that Musk’s close alliance with Trump, who appeals to a demographic largely uninterested in electric vehicles, destroyed Tesla’s core customer base. He cited polling data showing Tesla’s reputation plummeted from the eighth-most reputable brand in 2021 to 95th in recent rankings.

According to Galloway, Tesla sales in April dropped by 59% in France, 81% in Sweden, 74% in the Netherlands, 66% in Denmark, 50% in Switzerland, and 33% in Portugal. Public opinion polling suggests that a majority of voters disapprove of how Musk and DOGE have handled federal job cuts. 

In late April, Tesla reported a 71% drop in profits. During the company’s earnings call, Musk announced he would begin scaling back his involvement in DOGE starting in May. “My work getting the government’s financial house in order is mostly done,” he said, adding that his “time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly.”

Musk speaks out on DOGE backlash

On Tuesday, Musk returned to SpaceX for a test flight of the company’s Starship spacecraft and addressed the chatter over his political role. Speaking to reporters, he admitted that there were “difficulties” working within the federal bureaucracy. 

He said DOGE has become “the whipping boy for everything,” and that his businesses, especially Tesla, have borne the brunt of the criticism. 

“People were burning Teslas. Why would you do that? That’s really uncool,” the CEO asserted.

Contradicting President Trump and Republican lawmakers, Musk told CBS News that he did not support the administration’s latest tax bill. “I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly. It increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” he concluded.

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