Judge rules against Musk and ‘Doge’, finding USAid shutdown ‘likely violated’ constitution – US politics live

Judge Theodore D. Chuang’s ruling that the dismantling of USAid was likely constitutional landed just as top officials at the agency were planning for it to be completely shut down by the end of September, the Bulwark reports.

Employees at USAid were informed that their jobs will likely be wrapped into other federal departments, while workers overseas will be sent back to the United States. Chuang’s ruling could disrupt these plans, though the Trump administration could also appeal it.

Here’s more from the Bulwark of what was planned for USAid’s final months:

Tim Meisburger, the head of USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, recently briefed staff about plans and pegged a final day for the agency’s existence at September 30, 2025 (notably, when the just-struck government funding deal runs out). According to notes of the briefing, which were obtained by The Bulwark, Meisburger expected that the agency would have a new structure, new names for subsections, and that there would be a “minimal overseas footprint,” with the possibility to expand in the future. They’d be incorporated into the State Department and officials had to “mentally prepare” to go from being agency leaders to senior staffers.

“Most of the madness is behind us,” Meisburger said, according to the notes. It was time to “make lemonade out of lemons.”

But what if you can’t get the lemons home? That’s one of the problems USAID is currently confronting.

Last week, Jason Gray, who was serving as acting administrator for USAID, sent an email to staffers outlining the process for overseas officials to use the agency portal to come back to the United States. According to one person familiar with those concerns, the American Foreign Service Association is seeking information about the use of the portal. As of now, some USAID employees stationed abroad face a Catch-22. Some fear that if they relocate voluntarily, they may not be eligible for all the reimbursements associated with relocation costs (such as the shipment of personal effects). Other overseas employees worry that if they don’t voluntarily return to the United States, they could be fired. But at least that would potentially make the government liable to cover more of the end-of-contract relocation costs (assuming the current administration doesn’t just choose to leave fired employees abroad).

A federal judge has ordered Elon Musk and his “department of government efficiency” (Doge) to stop their dismantling of USAid, saying their move to rapidly shut down the agency tasked with managing foreign assistance was likely illegal.

“The court finds that defendants actions taken to shut down USAid on an accelerated basis, including its apparent decision to permanently close USAid headquarters without the approval of a duly appointed USAid Officer, likely violated the United States constitution in multiple ways, and that these actions harmed not only Plaintiffs, but also 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,” wrote Maryland-based judge Theodore D. Chuang.

He ordered Musk and Doge officials to halt any work meant to shut down USAid, reinstate email access for all USAid employees and contractors and not disclose any employees’ personal information publicly.

He also said Musk and Doge have two weeks to either certify that USAid’s Washington DC headquarters has been reopened or have a top USAid official agree to close it down.

Federal judge James Boasberg has given the Trump administration until noon tomorrow to provide answers to specific questions about three flights carrying suspected Venezuelan gang members that left the United States despite his order preventing their departure.

Boasberg informed the justice department they have until 12pm ET tomorrow to answer the following questions:

1) What time did the plane take off from U.S. soil and from where? 2) What time did it leave U.S. airspace? 3) What time did it land in which foreign country (including if it made more than one stop)? 4) What time were individuals subject solely to the Proclamation transferred out of U.S. custody? and 5) How many people were aboard solely on the basis of the Proclamation?

The government, which has cited national security concerns in refusing to answer Boasberg’s questions, is allowed to reply under seal.

The Pentagon said that fewer than 21,000 employees have accepted voluntary resignations after they announced plans to cut up to 60,000 civilian jobs, the Associated Press reports.

The defense department announced last month that it would fire 5-8% of its civilian workforce, with layoffs of 5,400 probationary workers. The defense department is the largest government agency, with the Government Accountability Office finding in 2023 that it had more than 700,000 full-time civilian workers.

A man accused of battling police with a baseball bat and shield during the January 6 riot at the US Capitol has announced a run for the US Senate in Florida.

Jake Lang, a prominent January 6 defendant, has announced on social media that he is seeking the seat recently vacated by the current secretary of state Marco Rubio in 2026.

“WE ARE TAKING OVER THE CAPITOL AGAIN,” Lang wrote in a post on X.

Lang continued to be politically active during his time in the DC jail, reportedly attempting to organize a militia and creating fundraisers for the January 6 defendants.

Lang did not stand trial for charges related to his role in the insurrection due to continuous delays. He was pardoned alongside about 1,600 others who participated in the Capitol attack when Donald Trump took office.

Read more about it here:

The Trump administration has moved to reinstate at least 24,500 recently fired probationary workers following a pair of orders from federal judges last week.

The reinstatements were outlined in a filing by the Justice Department in federal court in Maryland on Monday.

US District Judge James Bredar, an appointee of former President Obama, previously ordered the mass reinstatement of fired probationary workers at 18 federal agencies. He determined that the government’s claims that the terminations were because of performance issues “isn’t true”.

The majority of the reinstated employees were placed on paid administrative leave, according to the Washington Post. According to the filings, some workers were fully reinstated with pay, and some were reinstated without pay if they had been on unpaid leave before their termination.

Voters in Wisconsin are casting the first ballots in a pivotal state supreme court race that will decide whether liberal or conservative justices control the highest court in the state.

The first day of early voting comes two weeks before the April 1 election between the Republican-supported Brad Schimel and Democratic-supported Susan Crawford.

The race, which is in an important presidential battleground state, can be seen as a barometer of public opinion early in Trump’s presidency. The outcome will have far-reaching implications for a court that faces cases over abortion and reproductive rights, the strength of public sector unions, voting rules and congressional district boundaries.

The White House said in a statement that Trump and Putin “spoke about the need for peace and a ceasefire in the Ukraine war” in a phone call that lasted over an hour.

“Both leaders agreed this conflict needs to end with a lasting peace,” reads the statement. “The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace.”

Putin and Trump also discussed the Middle East, the “need to stop” the proliferation of strategic weapons, and Iran, according to the statement.

The justice department told the judge considering the legality of deporting suspected Venezuelan gang members that they did not violate his order to stop the planes from departing, but refused to immediately offer more details of their itinerary.

The filings came after judge James Boasberg yesterday gave the administration a deadline of today at noon to share details of how the three planes were allowed to fly to El Salvador even though he ordered that they not depart, and turn back if they were in the air.

In response, Robert L. Cerna, an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Ice) official based in Texas, said that two of the planes had already left US airspace by the time that Boasberg issued his order, while the third carried migrants who had been ordered deported through the typical legal process – not the Alien Enemies Act, which is at issue in the case Boasberg is considering.

From Cerna’s filing:

On March 15, 2025, after the Proclamation was publicly posted and took effect, three planes carrying aliens departed the United States for El Salvador International Airport (SAL). Two of those planes departed U.S. territory and airspace before 7:25 PM EDT. The third plane departed after that time, but all individuals on that third plane had Title 8 final removal orders and thus were not removed solely on the basis of the Proclamation at issue. To avoid any doubt, no one on any flight departing the United States after 7:25 PM EDT on March 15, 2025, was removed solely on the basis of the Proclamation at issue.

Separately, attorney general Pam Bondi and other top justice department officials signed a notice to Boasberg in response to his demand for details about the planes and their departure time, essentially refusing to provide him with what he wanted:

The Court also ordered the Government to address the form in which it can provide further details about flights that left the United States before 7:25 PM. The Government maintains that there is no justification to order the provision of additional information, and that doing so would be inappropriate, because even accepting Plaintiffs’ account of the facts, there was no violation of the Court’s written order (since the relevant flights left U.S. airspace, and so their occupants were “removed,” before the order issued), and the Court’s earlier oral statements were not independently enforceable as injunctions. The Government stands on those arguments.

Here’s more on the legal wrangling over the deportations, and Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act:

Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric against the judicial branch, saying that a federal judge who attempted to block his deportation of suspected Venezuelan gang members should be impeached. The comment prompted a rare public statement from John Roberts, the chief justice of the supreme court, who said impeachment “is not an appropriate response” and that appeals in the case should be allowed to play out. We expect to find out more today about the deportations of the undocumented immigrants to El Salvador, where the government released jarring video of them being manhandled off planes and having their heads shaved. The government continues to argue that the group belonged to Tren de Aragua, whose members Trump has designated for rapid deportation, but family members of some of the men told the Washington Post they had no association with the gang.

Here’s what else has happened today so far:

• Despite the rhetoric, impeaching and removing federal judges is exceedingly rare, and Republicans don’t appear to have the votes in the Senate.

• Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president, asked the Trump administration not to deport their citizens to a third country, or detain them in Guantánamo Bay.

• More documents related to the assassination of John F Kennedy Jr should be released today, Trump told reporters on Monday.

Impeachments of federal judges are rare, removals are even rarer, and political considerations make it unlikely that Congress would ever remove a federal judge during Donald Trump’s term.

Impeaching and removing a federal judge follows largely the same procedure as it would for a president. In order to remove a judge, the House of Representatives would have to vote to impeach them by a simple majority. The Senate would then hold a trial, after which they would need a two-thirds majority of members to vote to convict the judge and remove them from the federal bench.

While the GOP controls the Senate, they hold only 53 seats, and would need significant Democratic support to reach the 67-vote threshold for convictions – something that is unlikely to happen at Trump’s bidding.

Impeachments and convictions are exceedingly rare, in general. According to federal court data, only 15 judges have ever been impeached, and eight convicted.

Chief justice of the supreme court John Roberts has issued a rare public statement after Donald Trump this morning suggested a federal judge who attempted to block his administration’s deportation of suspected Venezuelan gang members should be impeached.

Without referencing the president, Roberts said:

For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.

Roberts is considered part of the court’s conservative bloc and has repeatedly joined rulings that Trump supports, perhaps most notably last year’s decision granting presidents immunity for official acts. However, Roberts also has a record of defending the judiciary from Trump’s attacks, such as this episode from his first term:

Mexico’s government has asked the Trump administration not to send any of its deported citizens to Guantánamo Bay, or any other country besides their own, Reuters reports.

President Claudia Sheinbaum made the request after the US government deported more than 200 suspected Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, which agreed to take them in exchange for $6m.

Donald Trump has said he wants to detain tens of thousands of migrants at Guantánamo Bay, which is best known as the site where foreigners arrested in the US “war on terror” were imprisoned:

Donald Trump said that his administration will release tens of thousands of records today related to the assassination of John F Kennedy Jr, which he does not expect to be redacted.

“You got a lot of reading. I don’t believe we’re going to redact anything,” the president told reporters as he visited the Kennedy Center performing arts venue in Washington DC.

He added that he expected about 80,000 pages to be released. “They’ve been waiting for that for decades, and I said during the campaign I’d release them and I’m a man of my word, so, tomorrow you have the JFK files.”

Trump is indeed a man of his word in this respect, as was Joe Biden:

Donald Trump has been on the phone with Russian president Vladimir Putin for the past hour, a senior White House official said.

“President Trump is currently in the Oval Office speaking with President Vladimir Putin of Russia since 10:00amEDT. The call is going well, and still in progress,” deputy White House chief of staff Dan Scavino wrote on X.

The call between the two leaders is seen as crucial to the peace agreement Trump is hoping to forge in Ukraine. Here’s more about it:

Fans of one-hit wonders and 90s music will no doubt recognize Semisonic’s 1998 hit, “Closing Time”.

You can still hear it on the radio, at baseball games and, most recently, in a video the White House released to advertise their zeal for deporting people.

The Minnesota-based band is not a fan, writing on X:

We did not authorize or condone the White House’s use of our song “Closing Time” in any way. And no, they didn’t ask. The song is about joy and possibilities and hope, and they have missed the point entirely.

In a court filing submitted yesterday, an official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) acknowledged that not all the alleged Venezuelan gang members are suspected of committing crimes in the United States.

“While it is true that many of the [Tren de Aragua] members removed under the [Alien Enemies Act] do not have criminal records in the United States, that is because they have only been in the United States for a short period of time,” wrote Robert L Cerna, the acting field office director for Ice’s enforcement and removal operations in part of Texas.

“The lack of a criminal record does not indicate they pose a limited threat. In fact, based upon their association with TdA, the lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose. It demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile.”

Despite family members of some of the deported Venezuelans insisting their relatives were not in any gang, Cerna argued all of the deportees had specifically been identified as part of Tren de Aragua, members of which Donald Trump has said should be removed under the Alien Enemies Act.

“ICE did not simply rely on social media posts, photographs of the alien displaying gang-related hand gestures, or tattoos alone,” Cerna wrote.

The Trump administration says the more than 200 undocumented immigrants flown to El Salvador are “terrorists” who belong to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang.

But the Washington Post spoke to relatives of four of those arrested, who said they are Venezuelans who escaped their country’s economic collapse and were living in Dallas, before being arrested just days ago. The relatives deny that they belong to the gang or any other violent group.

From the Post’s story:

The four friends grew up within blocks of each other in Venezuela, playing soccer and bouncing between one another’s homes. As the nation deteriorated, they journeyed to the United States and were eking out a new life in Dallas, where they worked long hours and shared a townhouse.

Then, on Thursday, armed officers showed up at their home, arrested them and took them to a Texas detention center, Mervin Yamarte, 29, told his mother by phone. The family members do not know their charges, and the men’s names do not appear in federal, state or local criminal court records.

What happened next horrified their families. Yamarte said they were asked to sign deportation papers and agreed, thinking that they would soon be back with their children and loved ones in Venezuela. But a day later, his mother saw a jarring video released by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele showing alleged gang members being violently pulled off planes from the United States and dragged to a mega-prison notorious for allegations of human rights abuses.

Mercedes Yamarte spotted her son.

He appears for only a second, but she has no doubt it is him. He is kneeling and wearing a ripped black shirt. His head has been shaved. An officer stands behind him. He appears to be wincing.

“I didn’t have words,” Mercedes Yamarte said Monday, her voice strained. “I couldn’t speak.”

…

“If there are people with criminal records, then look for them,” Mercedes Yamarte said. “But the innocent shouldn’t have to pay for the rest.”

With the help of the Senate, Donald Trump has the opportunity to appoint judges he approves to the federal judiciary, potentially tilting it towards the right, the Guardian’s David Smith reports:

Donald Trump is poised to reshape the US judiciary over the next four years through hundreds of potential appointments of rightwing judges, a progressive advocacy group has warned.

The analysis by Demand Justice comes with the courts already facing extraordinary pressure. The Trump administration has suffered several legal setbacks and was accused of violating a judge’s order by deporting about 250 Venezuelan alleged gang members to El Salvador.

Trump, a Republican, appointed 226 judges to the federal courts during his first term as president. The total was narrowly eclipsed by his successor, Joe Biden, with 228 including record numbers of women and people of colour.