“The President does not possess authority to reorganize, downsize, or otherwise transform the agencies of the federal government, unless and until Congress authorizes such action,” the 115-page lawsuit states.
Labor unions, nonprofits, and local governments across the country have filed a lawsuit challenging Donald Trump and DOGE’s near-unprecedented overhaul of the federal government.
According to National Public Radio, the lawsuit was filed Monday in a federal court.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs, which include the city of Chicago, the city of Baltimore, and Harris County, Texas, claim that actions taken by the president and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are illegal and unconstitutional. The lawsuit makes what is quickly becoming a familiar series of claims: that Donald Trump, in his capacity as president, does not have the authority to dismantle entire agencies without congressional approval.
“Three months into this Administration, there can be no real doubt that impacted federal agencies are acting according to the direction given by President Trump through DOGE, OMB and OPM,” the lawsuit alleges, referring to the Elon Musk-run DOGE as well as the federal Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management.
“Over and over, newly appointed agency heads have explained that they are reorganizing, eliminating programs, and cutting thousands upon thousands of jobs, because the President directed them to and because DOGE told them how much and what to cut,” the lawsuit says.
NPR notes that the plaintiffs include several of the same labor unions and nonprofits that sued the Trump administration over its recent mass firing of federal probationary employees.
That lawsuit, along with the most recent, was filed in a San Francisco-based federal court.
However, the Monday complaint takes a somewhat different direction: it claims that the February 11 executive order authorizing and empowering DOGE is unlawful and serves to “usurp” legislative authority.
“Since the founding of the nation, federal courts have recognized that the federal agencies are not created by the President, [but by Congress],” the lawsuit says.
“The President does not possess authority to reorganize, downsize, or otherwise transform the agencies of the federal government, unless and until Congress authorizes such action,” the 115-page lawsuit states.
But the current, Republican-controlled Congress has largely remained silent on DOGE’s impact. And the White House has steadfastly maintained that, as a democratically-elected president, Trump has a “mandate” to act upon his election promises.
“President Trump returned to Washington with a mandate from the American people to bring about unprecedented change in our federal government to uproot waste, fraud, and abuse,” a White House spokesperson said in a statement. “This isn’t easy to do in a broken system entrenched in bureaucracy and bloat, but it’s a task long overdue.”
“The personal financial situation of every American is top of mind for the president, which is why he’s working to cut regulations, reshore jobs, lower taxes, and make government more efficient,” the official said.
The lawsuit, though, alleges that, even if OMB and OPM have clearly-defined statutory functions, DOGE has no real legal authority.
“DOGE has no authority at all to dictate to the agencies created and governed by Congress any level of staffing cut or spending reduction,” the lawsuit says.
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New lawsuit argues Trump and DOGE’s government overhaul is unconstitutional
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