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After Massachusetts joined thirteen states to sue the Department of Government Efficiency, Harvard Kennedy School professors condemned DOGE’s extensive use of executive power to cut federal spending.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell jointly filed a lawsuit against DOGE, alleging that the department’s broad use of executive power was unconstitutional. But on Tuesday, their request to block DOGE from firing federal employees or accessing federal agency data was denied by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan.
As the Trump administration is handed the short-term win, HKS professor of public management Steven J. Kelman ’70 said he was “scared” for the country.
“I have, in 76 years of life, never been so worried for the future of the country as I am now,” he said.
HKS professor of public policy Elizabeth Linos ’07 also said she was concerned about DOGE’s expansive use of executive power as the department slashes federal jobs and funding.
“What appeared to be a so-called department — that I think originally people thought of as an advisory group — is actually taking a lot of action very quickly within government, even though they’re not a department,” Linos said.
While Chutkan’s decision temporarily delays the states’ attempt to sideline DOGE, she noted that the attorneys general “legitimately call into question what appears to be the unchecked authority of an unelected individual and an entity that was not created by Congress and over which it has no oversight.”
Kelman said that the power that Musk and the DOGE wields is “totally absurd,” adding that it shows that “he has no idea what democracy is.”
“He has no authority to go online and say USAID is deleted — abolished — in a tweet,” Kelman said. “He has zero, zero, zero authority to do that.”
Musk has targeted a wide array of government programs to decrease federal spending, including U.S. Agency for International Development, Financial Protection Board, and the Social Security Administration. As of Wednesday, more than 200,000 federal workers have seen their roles eliminated — and 75,000 more have accepted buyout offers.
Kelman said he is offended by Musk’s choice to target agencies which provide support to “ordinary people” with more “modest means.”
“It’s particularly disgraceful that the richest man in the world has chosen the only three agencies he's really attacked are these three agencies that help poor and modest means people,” he said. “That really offends me.”
Linos, who directs The People Lab at HKS, said DOGE’s funding cuts and mass firings are “doing damage” to public services and resources.
“Regardless of its legality, that damage is very clear to our ability to function and our ability to serve the American public,” Linos said.
“Those are kind of serious, serious, serious effects that no one should be making overnight, and certainly not a non elected civilian,” she added.
Linos said she was concerned by the DOGE’s “emphasis on just cutting” and that programs are being cut “without consideration of the impact on people's lives.”
“If you run fast and break things in a private company, especially like a private tech company, you might have some level of chaos emerge,” Linos said. “But if you do that with the government, you’re really costing people’s lives.”
—Staff writer Megan L. Blonigen can be reached at megan.blonigen@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @MeganBlonigen.
—Staff writer Frances Y. Yong can be reached at frances.yong@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @frances_yong_.
