DOGE Transparency Foia Lawsuit
Requesting Transparency by DOGE (In re U.S. DOGE Service U.S. Supreme Court brief)
At a Glance
DOGE Transparency Foia Lawsuit In order to prevent it from being discovered, the government argues DOGE is not an agency that is subject to FOIA. At the behest of government transparency advocates, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a Supreme Court brief arguing courts should look at what DOGE is actually up to as the test of whether FOIA applies, not what the government says it does. On Monday, American Oversight filed a response in the U.S. The District Court for the District of Columbia is opposing the Trump administration’s newest effort to block the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from engaging in transparency. The nonprofit advocacy group’s filing requests the court to reject the government’s contention before it and allow limited discovery to decide whether DOGE — the struggling group that Until recently headed by Elon Musk, the organization falls under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). “The Trump administration can’t have it both ways. It can’t build a shadow entity like DOGE, invest it with power like an independent agency by having the ability to fire civil servants, regulate other agencies, and take over government infrastructure, and then claim it merely advises the president and doesn’t have to be transparent,” Executive Director of American Oversight Chioma Chukwu said. “The government’s arguments are at war with decades of precedent and simple common sense,” the attorneys add. No president should be allowed to construct a shadow government that circumvents federal law and conceals its dealings from public view. We urge the court to reject this latest attempt to keep the public in the dark.
DOGE Transparency Foia Lawsuit. The government’s opposition brief relies on the same rationale the Supreme Court dismissed last month in a similar case brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). American Oversight’s latest filing makes one thing abundantly clear: decades of FOIA precedent have established beyond any doubt that courts can look beyond an organization’s stated mission to examine its real governing power — especially when the government’s narrative does not match public facts.
A District of Columbia federal court last week decided that the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE,” is a public agency subject to examination by the public under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The decision is a victory for democracy and government transparency in general because it requires documents created by DOGE such as emails to be released to the public upon request under FOIA.
DOGE Transparency Foia Lawsuit : The Complete Guide. DOGE, an agency created by the Trump administration and led by Elon Musk, was tasked with guiding a program aimed at, in the words of President Trump, “dismantle government bureaucracy, cut back on excess regulations, reduce wasteful spending, and reorganize federal agencies.” DOGE did that, and more. Budget-cutting presided over by Musk was said to decimated entire government agencies, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development. Images of Musk holding up a vintage chainsaw to symbolize what he would do to the federal bureaucracy are indicative of his aesthetic.
The Legal Battle for DOGE Transparency
DOGE Transparency Foia Lawsuit : The Complete Guide. Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, had been directed by email to discontinue the use of Slack until attorneys sorted out the problem of “records migration.” Why, exactly, wasn’t spelled out, but the change had symbolic significance for communications: to Jason R. Baron, a University of Maryland law professor and former director of litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration, the change was the difference between DOGE’s internal communications falling under the Federal Records Act and thus subject to Freedom of Information Act requests, and the Presidential Records Act, which would protect the office from FOIA. “According to the administration, those records will remain inaccessible until 2034,” Baron stated. “But if they’re open to FOIA, those records are now out there.”
Lawsuit against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
DOGE Transparency Foia Lawsuit : The Complete Guide. Democracy Forward filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for failing to turn over public records related to its attack on civil service and equity programs.
On top of Elon Musk’s seemingly “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), the Trump-Vance administration has launched broad efforts to close down federal equity programs, fire career civil service workers, and implement a partisan loyalty oath across government agencies. In furtherance of this effort, OPM provided guidance to agencies on executing Trump’s executive order to eliminate all federal diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) programs.
In violation of FOIA statutory mandates, OPM has refused to release records documenting these actions. On January 24th, we submitted information requests for:
- Policies to close DEIA offices, en masse fire employees, and end DEIA-related contracts and training.
- Letters and tips to the administration’s “DEIA Truth” tipline and government agency letters.
- White House and DOGE to OPM directives.
- Calendar records and messages from OPM Chief of Staff Amanda Scales, who previously served as an executive under Musk.
Although OPM confirmed receiving the request, it abruptly stopped responding and failed to meet the legal deadline for releasing the records.
DOGE Transparency Foia Lawsuit : The Complete Guide. We have now filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking an order compelling the Trump administration to disclose these public records. This marks Democracy Forward’s first complaint in a broader effort to break through the secrecy and disorder that have shrouded the policymaking process under the current administration.
Politicians, lawsuits and a court ruling are pushing Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to become more open.
An eruption on Thursday is forcing DOGE to follow the openness provisions that encompass much of the government.
DOGE Transparency Foia Lawsuit : The Complete Guide. The suit, brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, a non-profit group that exists to protect endangered species, asserts that the Office of Management and Budget has not properly responded to Freedom of Information Act requests for information about DOGE’s activities since the Freedom of Information Act tends to mandate federal records to be made available if requested.
While DOGE has faced over 20 lawsuits, the Center for Biological Diversity case appears to be the first to actually ask DOGE to obey federal disclosure regulations. Officials at OMB and DOGE did not return emails requesting comment.
Under FOIA, everyone has the right to ask the federal government to release records, with a few exceptions, such as if the information is being classified. Since some agencies are so slow, taking months or years to review a request, sometimes the FOIA filers sue, hoping to get the government moving.
FOIA opens up the federal agency records to the public. Agencies must respond to a request for a record within a specific statutory time frame (5 U.S.C. §552(a)(6)(A)(i)). Requesters can ask that the request be expedited on good cause, which places the agency under obligation to a determination of the request for expedited processing within 10 days (5 U.S.C. §552(a)(6)(E)(ii)(1)).
Plaintiffs initially submitted both of the two petitions to the USDS and OMB on January 30, 2025, for “all records reflecting communications” from a range of sources including:
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- Emails.
- Text messages.
- Chats on communication apps such as Signal, Slack, and similar platforms.
- Phone call logs.
- Calendar and meeting reminders.
- Handwritten or electronic memoranda.
Plaintiff’s first request was for emails containing a list of listed terms of key phrases received or sent by Elon Musk or on behalf of Musk’s scheduler, secretary, senior advisor or special advisor, assistant, or chief of staff.
The second request, also submitted to USDS and OMB, was within scope but requested communications between Musk, his staff and 40 largely congressional recipients.