The lawsuit on behalf of USAID workers alleged that Musk has assumed vast authority over federal agencies that, under the Constitution, could only be exercised by someone who’s been nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate as an “Officer of the United States.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang found that the Trump administration and Elon Musk violated the constitutional separation of powers and the Appointments Clause when it ordered the shuttering of the foreign aid agency.