On Monday, a federal judge ordered that the government downsizing team led by Elon Musk must abide by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and disclose its operational records. The judge stated that the team’s operations have been shrouded in “unusual secrecy.”
Judge Christopher Cooper in the Washington area supported the view of the government oversight organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), suggesting that the government efficiency department led by Musk (DOGE) is likely bound by the FOIA.
As a law, the FOIA allows the public to request access to records held by government agencies.
Currently, advocacy groups are working to make the operations of the government efficiency department more transparent as it carries out large-scale layoffs of federal employees and dissolves government agencies.
The Trump administration has emphasized that the government efficiency department, as a branch of the President’s Executive Office, is not subject to FOIA.
However, Cooper believes that DOGE, unlike other agencies, exercises “substantial independent power” far beyond those typically not bound by FOIA. He stated that the agency “seems not only to have the authority to assess federal projects, but also the authority to significantly reshape or even completely cancel these projects.” He also noted that the agency has refused to refute this fact.
He said that the agency’s operations have been “unusually mysterious” so far, citing reports of DOGE using external servers, employees refusing to disclose their identities to career officials, and communicating using the encryption application Signal as evidence.
Donald Sherman, head of CREW, welcomed the ruling. In a statement, he said, “Americans should now have more transparency from the government than ever before.” CREW filed a lawsuit on February 20, previously requesting information regarding DOGE’s operations under FOIA, including internal government emails and memos. CREW also requested that Cooper order the release of these records by Monday, believing that the public and Congress need this information during government funding legislative debates. The funding legislation must be passed by Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown.
Cooper declined to order the records to be released by Monday but stated that given DOGE’s exercising of “unprecedented” powers, DOGE must expedite the provision of records. Cooper instructed the Trump administration to submit a status report by March 20, estimating the number of disputed documents. Cooper also ordered both parties to submit a rolling schedule for document production by March 27. Cooper also instructed DOGE to preserve records as “counsel for defendant entities may not fully appreciate their obligation to preserve federal records.”
(This article references a report from Reuters)