Courts & Litigation Executive Branch

Advocacy Groups File Four Lawsuits Against Musk-Led DOGE

Anna Bower
Monday, January 20, 2025, 3:17 PM

The suits took aim at the “Department of Government Efficiency,” an informal initiative led by Elon Musk that advises the White House on budget cuts.

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Within minutes of Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president of the United States, various advocacy groups filed four lawsuits related to the operations of the “Department of Government Efficiency,” also known as DOGE, a quasi-governmental initiative led by Elon Musk that advises the White House on potential budget cuts.

Three of the suits, filed in the United States District Court for District of Columbia, allege that the so-called DOGE violates federal transparency law established by the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).  The 1972 law requires a federal “advisory committee” to follow certain rules and procedures related to its establishment, staffing, and disclosure practices.

The three suits challenging DOGE’s activities under FACA each seek to shut down the Elon Musk-led panel until it complies with federal transparency rules. 

One of the three FACA-related suits was brought by a coalition of public interest groups, including the American Public Health Association, VoteVets Action Fund, and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The other cases were filed by National Security Counselors, a non-profit public interest law firm, and Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization.

A fourth lawsuit, filed by the Center for Biological Diversity against the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), seeks to compel the disclosure of certain DOGE-related records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The complaint alleges that OMB has, to date, failed to disclose requested records concerning interactions between OMB employees and DOGE representatives during the presidential transition. The litigants request a court order enjoining OMB from withholding responsive records.

Read the lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and others here or below:

Read the lawsuit filed by National Security Counselors here or below:

Read the lawsuit filed by Public Citizen here or below:

Read the lawsuit filed by Center for Biological Diversity here or below:

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Anna Bower

Anna Bower

@annabower
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Anna Bower is a senior editor at Lawfare. Anna holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Cambridge and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School. She joined Lawfare as a recipient of Harvard’s Sumner M. Redstone Fellowship in Public Service. Prior to law school, Anna worked as a judicial assistant for a Superior Court judge in the Northeastern Judicial Circuit of Georgia. She also previously worked as a Fulbright Fellow at Anadolu University in Eskişehir, Turkey. A native of Georgia, Anna is based in Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

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