Judge orders DOGE to comply with FOIA requests

A federal judge on Monday night ruled that the Department of Government Efficiency must comply with a good government group’s Freedom of Information Act requests, rebuffing the Trump administration’s assertions that records from the Elon Musk-backed initiative should be shielded from the public.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee, ordered DOGE, which is technically called the U.S. DOGE Service, to expedite processing of the FOIA request by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. 

The order also requires the Office of Management and Budget and USDS to provide an estimate of the volume of records that could be covered by CREW’s FOIA requests by March 20, the two entities to submit a proposed schedule for such expedited processing by March 27 and OMB and USDS to preserve all records that could be part of the document requests. 

“Now more than ever, Americans deserve transparency in their government. Despite efforts and claims to the contrary, the government cannot hide the actions of the U.S. DOGE Service,” CREW Executive Director and Chief Counsel Donald Sherman said in a statement. “We look forward to the expedited processing of our requests and making all the DOGE documents public.”

The Trump administration has argued that USDS records fall under the Presidential Records Act, which can restrict access to such information for up to 12 years after a president leaves office. FOIA, on the other hand, requires agencies to disclose requested information with limited exceptions. 

“DOGE is a component of the White House and not subject to FOIA, only PRA. The judge has a misunderstanding of how DOGE works, and we expect him to reverse the ruling once he correctly comprehends DOGE’s structure within the White House office,” a White House official said in a statement to Government Executive.

Cooper, however, determined that USDS likely operates as an agency subject to FOIA, pointing to its work to slash federal jobs, dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development and cull contracts. 

“[T]he Court can conclude that USDS likely has at least some independent authority to identify and terminate federal employees, federal programs and federal contracts,” he wrote. “Doing any of those three things would appear to require substantial independent authority; to do all three surely does.”

Multiple other good government groups have sued for access to USDS records.