Attorney General Nick Brown announced Thursday that Washington has teamed with 13 other attorneys general in suing President Donald Trump and X owner Elon Musk.
A news release from Brown’s office blasted the “unlawful delegation of executive power” that Trump has granted Musk, the richest man in the world who now heads a new federal Department of Government Efficiency. Musk has neither been elected nor confirmed, the Attorney General’s news release says, yet he’s spearheaded attempts to make sweeping cuts to the federal workforce.
This lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, marks the fifth that Washington state has participated in, including two that it leads.
The latest legal challenge contends that the President has flouted the U.S. Constitution’s Appointments Clause by launching a new federal department without the approval of Congress. In addition, Musk now enjoys unprecedented “powers over the entire federal government” without the Senate’s consent.
“Elon Musk has amassed — or simply taken for himself — unaccountable power to walk into any federal agency, fire people, eliminate programs authorized by Congress, and access confidential personal and national security information without regard for the consequences,” Brown said in a Feb. 13 news release.
“Washingtonians will not stand by while their safety and freedoms are threatened by a lawless administration intent on shredding the Constitution line by line.”
The White House did not immediately return McClatchy’s request for comment.
Gov. Bob Ferguson decried Musk’s position within Trump’s administration as “unconstitutional.”
He added in the news release: “If the President wants Musk or any other powerful billionaire to have a significant role in running our government, he can and should appoint them as the Constitution requires.”
During his short time in the American political realm, Musk has accessed sensitive data, disrupted local and state governments and targeted federal agencies that gave more than $20 billion in federal grants to Washington in 2024 alone, according to the news release.
The controversial tech magnate also has essentially shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development and threatened to do the same with the Department of Education.
The lawsuit argues that the actions taken are jeopardizing the operational and financial stability of states. Billions of dollars in federal funding has been interrupted, including money crucial for health care, law enforcement, education and other services. Cybersecurity has been threatened, and public trust has waned, according to the news release.
Washington and its partner states are hoping that a court ruling will invalidate Musk’s actions and declare them unconstitutional. They also want an injunction preventing Musk from “issuing further unlawful orders.”
At a news conference earlier in the day on Feb. 13, Brown delivered a stern warning for Trump: “Follow the damn law. It’s not that hard.”
