Trump’s Shutdown of USAID Challenged in Court by Worker Unions

Not a single one of defendants' actions to dismantle USAID were taken pursuant to congressional authorization,

the lawsuit said

The agency's collapse has had disastrous humanitarian consequences,

Thursday's lawsuit said, including shutting down efforts to fight malaria and HIV

Our government is attacking us. This is worse than any dictatorship where I’ve worked.”

Gawand

The humanitarian consequences of defendants’ actions have already been catastrophic,

the plaintiffs said

We already see the shutdown’s cost, ... Kids with drug-resistant TB, turned away from clinics, are not just dying – they’re spreading the disease. People around the world [with] HIV, denied their medicine, will soon start transmitting virus. The damage is global.”

Atul Gawande, a surgeon who led global health programs for USAid wrote on X

I am not surprised that the attacks are being cheered by Moscow and Beijing,

Power wrote

Deaths are inevitable. Already, 300 babies that would not have had HIV, now do,

the lawsuit states

The dismantling of USAID including its Foreign Service members has thrown dedicated public servants—and their families—into chaos and uncertainty,

AFSA President Tom Yazdgerdi said in a statement Thursday

Not when it comes to fraud. If there’s fraud, these people are lunatics,

Trump said when asked by CNN’s Jeff Zeleny about his capacity to exact major changes to USAID

These actions have generated a global humanitarian crisis by abruptly halting the crucial work of USAID employees, grantees, and contractors. They have cost thousands of American jobs. And they have imperiled U.S. national security interests,

attorneys for the groups wrote in the lawsuit

President Trump’s actions to dissolve USAID exceed presidential authority and usurp legislative authority conferred upon Congress by the Constitution, in violation of the separation of powers,

the lawsuit states

The consequences of this disruption go far beyond individual careers—it weakens U.S. leadership and undermines global stability worldwide. AFSA will continue to defend its members and pursue all options to protect this essential workforce,

he said

My best reading of the law is that although the president could direct greater coordination of USAID with the State Department and maybe even transfer some functions, he cannot unilaterally abolish the agency by executive order,

said Richard Briffault, a professor at Columbia Law School

We’re left with very little recourse, which is unfortunate, because they’re going to lose a tremendous workforce, and at the end of the day, America doesn’t win. If USAID closes, America loses,

he added