DOGE Likely Can’t Evade Freedom of Information Law, Court Rules

A federal judge ruled Monday evening that Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency is likely subject to legal disclosure obligations under the Freedom of Information Act.

It is a preliminary ruling which the government will almost certainly appeal, but a significant early victory for transparency when it comes to Musk and DOGE. So far, DOGE has ignored FOIA requests, including from The Intercept, on the grounds that it is immune from the statute entirely.

But Judge Christopher Reid Cooper of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia determined DOGE likely wields the kind of “substantial authority” that makes it a federal agency subject to FOIA. He reviewed DOGE’s structure, its rampage through the federal government in recent weeks, and how President Donald Trump and Musk have publicly described its work.

Cooper noted DOGE’s “decimation” of one federal agency, the U.S. Agency for International Development, in particular, along with DOGE’s boastful termination of federal workers, grants, and contracts.

“From these reports, the Court can conclude that USDS likely has at least some independent authority to identify and terminate federal employees, federal programs, and federal contracts,” Cooper ruled, using the acronym for the U.S. DOGE Service, one of the initiative’s official names. “Doing any of those three things would appear to require substantial independent authority; to do all three surely does.”

“USDS’s power to override agency officials, swiftly gain access to agency systems, and impose job requirements on federal employees all further suggest substantial independent authority,” he added.

In the wake of more than a dozen lawsuits to challenge DOGE’s work, the Trump administration has tried to cast Musk and his crew as mere advisers to the White House and duly appointed Cabinet secretaries. Cooper found that such statements — which Trump has contradicted immediately — “cannot overcome all the other evidence of USDS’s substantial independent authority.”

The judge noted that government lawyers offered minimal pushback about DOGE’s authority, wondering in a footnote “whether this decision was strategic.” In response to other lawsuits, the government has argued that DOGE is, in fact, a federal “agency” for some purposes — but only “when it is convenient” rather than “burdensome” to be one, as another judge wrote in a February ruling, including “to escape the obligations that accompany agencyhood” such as accountability under FOIA.

Cooper ordered DOGE to process a FOIA request filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the watchdog group that filed the lawsuit, on an expedited basis.

“The rapid pace of USDS’s actions requires the quick release of information about its structure and activities,” he ruled. “That is especially so given the secrecy with which USDS has operated.”

CREW’s chief counsel and executive director, Donald Sherman, celebrated the ruling in a statement published online on Monday evening.

“Despite efforts and claims to the contrary, the government cannot hide the actions of the U.S. DOGE Service,” Sherman said. “We look forward to the expedited processing of our requests and making all the DOGE documents public.”

The government is expected to appeal the order. In the meantime, DOGE likely will not respond to other FOIA requests.

“At President Trump’s direction, Elon Musk and DOGE are saving historic amounts of taxpayer money from being spent on unserious bureaucratic pet projects,” said a Justice Department spokesperson in an emailed statement. “This Department has already been fighting in court to vigorously defend President Trump’s agenda and will continue to do so, especially when it comes to waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars.”

There are currently two other federal lawsuits filed by government transparency groups against DOGE under FOIA, which are both still in early stages of litigation.

“This ruling ensures that the Trump administration and Elon Musk cannot hide behind bureaucratic sleight of hand to evade scrutiny,” said Chioma Chukwu, interim director of American Oversight, one of the other watchdogs suing DOGE, in an emailed statement on Tuesday. “Americans have the right to timely access to the truth about the Trump administration’s reckless and haphazard push to slash essential services that millions of Americans rely on and gain access to highly sensitive information on millions more without clear guardrails to prevent abuse.”

Update: March 11, 2025, 12:48 p.m. ET
The story was updated to include a comment from the Department of Justice received after publication.