A new legal storm hit President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday, April 4, 2025, as nine Democratic state attorneys general filed a sweeping federal lawsuit against the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), accusing it of violating constitutional protections and gutting the civil service under Elon Musk’s lead. The case—filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
The 121-page complaint, led by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and backed by California, New York, Washington, Oregon, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and Maryland, calls DOGE’s cuts “structurally unconstitutional.” It alleges Trump’s executive order creating DOGE in January bypassed the Office of Personnel Management, stripped statutory protections for tens of thousands of federal employees, and let Musk and agency deputy Vivek Ramaswamy run roughshod over hiring laws, civil service rules, and oversight norms.
“This is a rogue agency, created without Congressional input, run by unelected billionaires, executing mass firings of public servants without cause,” Raoul said at a press conference Friday morning in Chicago. “That’s not reform—that’s autocracy.”
The lawsuit cites the 10,700 layoffs at Health and Human Services this week alone, as well as the 8,000 firings at the Department of Veterans Affairs and 5,300 at the Environmental Protection Agency since February 1, many under a new “Schedule F” classification revived from Trump’s first term. Plaintiffs argue this violates the Pendleton Act of 1883, which established merit-based hiring, and encroaches on states’ rights, since federal support for health, housing, and education is vanishing mid-budget.
DOGE officials called the lawsuit “meritless.” In a press release Friday evening, Deputy Director Ramaswamy claimed the cuts were “necessary to remove ideological bias and restore accountability,” accusing the fired workers of being “deeply entrenched activists masquerading as public servants.”
“The American people did not elect anonymous, unaccountable bureaucrats,” he said, defending Schedule F as “constitutional and long overdue.”
Elon Musk has not publicly commented since a brief tweet Thursday night—“Truth over tenure”—but reposted the DOGE press statement with a rocket emoji. Trump, meanwhile, blasted the lawsuit on Truth Social “Democrat AGs are crying because we FIRED THE DEAD WEIGHT. Government should work, not resist!”
Behind the legalese, the human toll is growing. The lawsuit highlights named plaintiffs—including a disabled Navy veteran fired from the VA on February 6, a single mother laid off from HHS’s nutrition office, and a whistleblower terminated from the EPA after raising environmental safety concerns. States say the firings have derailed housing inspections, delayed food assistance, and triggered Medicaid billing chaos—putting millions at risk.
“We’ve already seen delays in life-saving services,” said California AG Rob Bonta. “This isn’t about red tape—it’s about survival.”
Emails and internal memos obtained by plaintiffs show DOGE staff fast-tracking termination lists and reassigning tasks to contractors with no public accountability. Musk’s Starlink tech teams, the suit alleges, are even replacing IT departments at two agencies, raising ethical red flags.
The case leans heavily on separation of powers and due process violations, arguing DOGE exercises unchecked executive power over agencies that serve the public, not the president. Attorneys general cite the Supreme Court’s 2020 Seila Law ruling, which warned against excessive presidential control over independent bodies. They also invoke the 5th and 10th Amendments, and seek an injunction halting DOGE’s firings immediately.
“If this stands, no federal job is safe—not a nurse at the VA, not a chemist at the EPA, not a food inspector at USDA,” said Massachusetts AG Andrea Campbell. “It’s a blueprint for dismantling the state.”
They’ve asked for expedited hearings—Judge Sharon Coleman, an Obama appointee, was assigned the case Friday and scheduled the first status hearing for April 10. A preliminary ruling could come by May. Legal observers say it may reach the Supreme Court by fall if Trump’s DOJ appeals.
Democrats cheered the lawsuit—Sen. Elizabeth Warren called it “the first real legal check on Musk’s power grab.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries praised the AGs’ “bravery.” But Republicans cried foul—Sen. J.D. Vance tweeted, “The swamp’s lawyers are suing because we cleaned house.”
Conservative legal groups like the Heritage Foundation backed DOGE’s legality, while the ACLU called for an “emergency stay” of terminations affecting civil liberties divisions.
The lawsuit lands a day before the “Hands Off!” protests sweep 1,100 cities nationwide—where DOGE and Musk are already targets. Organizers said Friday the legal filing will fuel turnout in cities like New York, Denver, and Atlanta, where civil servants plan to march in uniform, waving pink slips and signs reading “I AM NOT DEAD WEIGHT.”
The White House tried to downplay the suit—Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News, “This is the swamp suing the plumber,” adding that “the president has full confidence in DOGE.”
The legal stakes are massive—if DOGE is ruled unconstitutional, tens of thousands of firings could be reversed and Trump’s personnel agenda gutted. If the courts uphold it, the president gains historic power over the bureaucracy. The lawsuit tees up a showdown between states and the federal executive not seen since the New Deal.
For now, the plaintiffs are hoping to freeze the firings fast. “This isn’t about Trump or Musk,” Raoul said Friday. “It’s about whether the rule of law still matters in America.”