马萨诸塞州和罗德岛州等 14 个州总检察长起诉特朗普和马斯克创建“政府效率部”
【中美创新时报2025 年 2 月 13 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）马萨诸塞州总检察长安德里亚·坎贝尔 (Andrea Campbell)和其他 13 个州的总检察长周四起诉特朗普总统和埃隆马斯克创建“政府效率部”，并授予马斯克行政权力来监督它。《波士顿环球报》记者Anjali Huynh 对此作了下述报道。
在华盛顿特区联邦法院提起的诉讼中，总检察长辩称，未经国会批准，政府无权创建该部门。
最近几周，这个所谓的部门（也称为 DOGE）因其削减政府机构资金或人员的努力而遭到民主党人的强烈反对，此次诉讼由此产生。
坎贝尔在宣布诉讼的声明中表示：“总统不能成立一个新部门来重组联邦政府，当然也不能在没有国会采取行动的情况下将不受约束的权力交给亿万富翁朋友。”“我们的诉讼旨在结束 DOGE 持续存在的腐败和滥用权力现象，这些现象威胁到医疗保健、教育等关键需求的资金。”
坎贝尔的办公室表示，这 14 名总检察长均为民主党人，他们希望法院宣布马斯克的行为违宪，并禁止他向 DOGE 以外的任何行政部门人员发布命令。
特朗普在就职典礼前宣布，拥有 SpaceX、特斯拉和 X 的科技亿万富翁马斯克将与前共和党总统候选人维韦克·拉马斯瓦米共同领导该部门。该部门旨在“最大限度地提高政府效率和生产力”，主要是通过减少联邦劳动力并以符合特朗普政府优先事项的方式削减资金。
马斯克最终被聘为“特别政府雇员”，这一职位通常只为那些临时受聘为政府提供咨询而无需国会批准的人保留。
民主党对马斯克试图进入联邦财政部支付系统以及解散美国国际开发署（该署负责监督向世界各地分发大量人道主义援助）的行为表示警惕。
特朗普在就职当天通过行政命令创建了 DOGE，授予该组织向行政机构增加人员的能力。周二，特朗普签署了一项行政命令，赋予 DOGE 进一步重塑公务员队伍的能力，部分是通过对联邦劳动力实施“大规模”削减，并允许马斯克及其团队决定新员工。
据美联社报道，马斯克在周二签署行政命令时表示：“人民投票支持重大政府改革，这就是人民将得到的。”“这就是民主的意义所在。”
马斯克在周四的世界政府峰会上发表讲话时呼吁美国“从联邦政府中删除整个机构”，他说：“如果我们不除掉杂草的根，那么杂草很容易重新生长。”
在法庭文件中，民主党总检察长辩称，特朗普违反了宪法，因为他赋予马斯克“看似无限和不受制约的权力”，类似于国王解散政府部门的权力。他们指控马斯克自那以后“在联邦政府中四处游荡，解散机构，访问敏感数据，造成大规模混乱和混乱。”
罗德岛州总检察长彼得·内罗尼亚在一份声明中说：“我们从未见过一个未经选举、未经确认的人在美国拥有如此不受约束的权力——这令人非常担忧，而且违反宪法。” “不管你喜欢与否，特朗普总统赢得了 2024 年总统大选，但没有人选出世界上最富有的人来破坏我们的政府和我们的国家。”
自特朗普上任以来的三周内，民主党总检察长已经与特朗普政府进行了多次法庭斗争，因为该党越来越依赖法官来挑战他的全面行政命令。包括坎贝尔在内的 19 名民主党总检察长组成的联盟上周在纽约起诉特朗普政府允许马斯克和 DOGE 访问敏感的个人信息，促使联邦法官阻止他们访问。
到目前为止，坎贝尔还共同领导了针对特朗普政府削减生物医学研究资金、取消出生公民权和冻结联邦资金的诉讼。
亚利桑那州、密歇根州和新墨西哥州的总检察长领导了针对特朗普和马斯克的诉讼，加利福尼亚州、康涅狄格州、夏威夷州、马里兰州、马萨诸塞州、明尼苏达州、内华达州、罗德岛州、俄勒冈州、华盛顿州和佛蒙特州也加入了诉讼。
题图：马萨诸塞州总检察长 Andrea Campbell 和其他 13 名总检察长起诉特朗普总统和埃隆马斯克。Damian Dovarganes/美联社
附原英文报道：
Mass., R.I. attorneys general among 14 states to sue Trump, Musk over creating DOGE
By Anjali Huynh Globe Staff,Updated February 13, 2025
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell and 13 other AGs filed suit against President Trump and Elon Musk.Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press
Attorney General Andrea Campbell and attorneys general from 13 other states sued President Trump and Elon Musk Thursday for creating the “Department of Government Efficiency” and granting Musk executive powers to oversee it.
In the lawsuit, filed in a D.C. federal court, the attorneys general argued the administration did not have the power to create the department without approval from Congress.
The suit comes as the so-called department, also known as DOGE, has faced significant opposition from Democrats in recent weeks for its efforts to slash funding or personnel from government agencies.
“The President cannot create a new department to restructure the federal government and certainly cannot give unchecked power to a billionaire friend without Congressional action,” Campbell said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “Our lawsuit seeks to put an end to the ongoing corruption and abuse of power at DOGE that threatens funding for crucial needs such as healthcare, education, and more.”
The 14 attorneys general, all Democrats, are aiming for the courts to declare Musk’s actions unconstitutional, Campbell’s office said, as well as bar him from issuing orders to anyone in the executive branch outside of DOGE.
Trump announced prior to his inauguration that Musk, the tech billionaire who owns SpaceX, Tesla, and X, would co-lead the department with Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate. The department aims to “maximize governmental efficiency and productivity,” largely by reducing the federal workforce and cutting funding in ways that align with the Trump administration’s priorities.
Musk was ultimately hired as a “special government employee,” a position typically reserved for those temporarily hired to consult for the government without needing congressional approval.
Democrats have sounded alarms over Musk’s efforts to access payment systems in the federal Treasury and his dismantling of the US Agency for International Development, which oversaw the dispersal of significant humanitarian aid around the world.
Trump created DOGE via an executive order on Inauguration Day, granting the group the ability to add personnel to executive agencies. On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order giving DOGE further ability to reshape the civil service in part by implementing “large scale” cuts to the federal workforce and allowing Musk and his team to determine new hires.
“The people voted for major government reform and that’s what the people are going to get,” Musk said at the order’s signing Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. “That’s what democracy is all about.”
While addressing the World Governments Summit Thursday, Musk called for the United States to “delete entire agencies” from the federal government, saying: “If we don’t remove the roots of the weed, then it’s easy for the weed to grow back.”
In the court filing, the Democratic attorneys general argued Trump had violated the Constitution by granting Musk “seemingly limitless and unchecked power” akin to that of a king to dismantle government departments. They allege Musk has since “roamed through the federal government unraveling agencies, accessing sensitive data, and causing mass chaos and confusion.”
“Never before have we seen an unelected, unconfirmed person wielding this much unfettered power in the United States — it is cause for great concern, and it’s unconstitutional,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said in a statement. “Like it or not, President Trump won the 2024 Presidential Election, but no one elected the world’s richest man to wreak havoc on our government and our country.”
Democratic attorneys general have already waged several court fights against the Trump administration in the three weeks since he took office, as the party has increasingly relied on judges to challenge his sweeping executive orders. A coalition of 19 Democratic attorneys general, including Campbell, sued the Trump administration in New York last week for allowing Musk and DOGE to access sensitive personal information, prompting a federal judge to block their access.
Campbell has so far also co-led lawsuits against the Trump administration’s efforts to cut biomedical research funding, end birthright citizenship, and freeze federal funds.
Attorneys general from Arizona, Michigan, and New Mexico led the lawsuit against Trump and Musk and were joined by California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Rhode Island, Oregon, Washington, and Vermont.
