Judge blocks DOGE cuts to USAID

A US judge has blocked drastic job cuts to the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

On 18 March Judge Theodore Chuang of the US District Court for Maryland ruled that the moves—which effectively shut the agency—had probably violated the US constitution. The case was brought by more than 20 current and former USAID employees and contractors.

The fired employees are not back at work but have been placed on paid administrative leave. The judge said the fast shutdown of the agency “deprived the public’s elected representatives in Congress of their constitutional authority to decide whether, when, and how to close down an agency” authorised by Congress.1

The cuts were initiated by …