Federal judge rules Elon Musk’s DOGE must disclose operations amid transparency demands in US

United States District Federal Judge Christopher Cooper on March 10 has ordered the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to make its records of is operations public, according to a Reuters report.

The DOGE team, created by US President Donald Trump, was facing legal action from government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, which argued that the agency is subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), it said.

Making the ruling in Washington, Judge Cooper agreed with the watchdog, and in the first of its kind ruling, marked an early victory for advocates seeking to force DOGE to become more transparent, the report added. DOGE has been mass firing federal workers and cutting government spending under the Trump administration's aegis.

What Did The Judge Say?

The Trump administration had argued that DOGE as an arm of the Executive Office of the President was not subject to FOIA, a law that allows the public to seek access to records produced by government agencies that they had not previously disclosed.

But Cooper, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, said that DOGE was exercising "substantial independent authority" much greater than the other components of that office that are usually exempt from FOIA's requirements.

He said it “appears to have the power not just to evaluate federal programs, but to drastically reshape and even eliminate them wholesale,” a fact that the judge said the agency declined to refute.

He said its "operations thus far have been marked by unusual secrecy,"" citing reports about DOGE's use of an outside server, its employees refusal to identify themselves to career officials and their use of the encrypted app Signal to communicate.

The White House and CREW, the watchdog group, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Watchdog Gains Early Victory Against DOGE

Washington-based CREW launched the lawsuit on February 20 after filing requests under FOIA seeking further information on DOGE's operations, including communications such as internal government emails and memos.

CREW had asked Cooper to order the records released by Monday, arguing that the public and Congress needed the information during the debate over government funding legislation that must pass by Friday to avert a partial government shutdown.

Cooper declined to set a Friday deadline to produce the records. But he ordered the records produced on an expedited basis, saying voters and Congress deserve timely information on DOGE given the "unprecedented" authority it was exercising to reshape the government.

(With inputs from Reuters)