On January 20, 2025 Donald Trump, by executive order, suspended all payments by USAID and established a so-called Department of Government Efficiency within the executive branch. It purports to be a renaming of the United States Digital Service as DOGE, an entity within the Executive Office of the President led by "special government employees" like Elon Musk. But no such agency is recognized by law - 5 U.S.C. 551. DOGE has placed four people in executive agencies who are directed to "modernize" government software. A TRO is now in place until the February 14 return date of the plaintiffs' order to show cause.
22 U.S.C. § 6563 (1998) recognizes USAID as an "independent establishment". But Marco Rubio, newly confirmed as Secretary of State, declared himself to be the administrator and began to discmantle the agency. But Public Citizen filed a lawsuit on behalf of the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Foreign Service Association seeking to halt the "dismantling" of USAID. District Judge Carl Nichols - a 2019 Trump appointee - denied a TRO of the Trump-ordered funding freeze, but did ORDER:
All USAID employees currently on administrative leave shall be reinstated until that date [February 14], and shall be given complete access to email, payment, and security notification systems until that date, and no additional employees shall be placed on administrative leave before that date. No USAID employees shall be evacuated from their host countries before February 14, 2025 at 11:59 PM
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