Judge Christopher Cooper/ Wikimedia Commons
A federal judge on Monday said DOGE is wielding ‘unprecedented’ power and ordered the release of the operation’s records.
“A federal judge has ruled that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is wielding so much power that its records will likely have to be opened to the public under federal law,” Politico reported.
“U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said the vast and “unprecedented” authority of DOGE, formally known as the U.S. Digital Service, combined with its “unusual secrecy” warrant the urgent release of its internal documents under the Freedom of Information Act,” Politico reported.
Watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed three Freedom of Information Requests (FOIA) with the OMB and DOGE seeking documents.
US District Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee, agreed with a plaintiff suing DOGE and said Musk’s operation is covered by FOIA.
“The Court will deny the motion for a preliminary injunction directing OMB and USDS to process the three requests at issue by March 10, 2025. However, finding that CREW has established a likelihood of success on the merits of its argument that USDS is subject to FOIA and that indefinite delay in the release of the requested USDS records would cause CREW and the public irreparable harm, the Court will grant CREW’s request for expedited processing of the USDS request, consistent with how OMB is presently treating the other two requests,” the judge wrote in a 37-page opinion.
Judge Cooper agreed to force the release of the documents on an expedited timetable, however, he did not grant CREW’s demand to release the documents before Congress votes on a spending bill.
“Congress needs the requested information in a timely fashion to use it effectively. The electorate also requires the expeditious production and publication of this information,” Cooper said. “Voters may seek to influence congressional representatives to take action responsive to USDS at any point along the road. And ‘[t]he dissemination of information’ sought by CREW would contribute ‘to an informed electorate capable of developing knowledgeable opinions and sharing those knowledgeable opinions with their elected leaders,’” the judge wrote.
Former Gorsuch clerk and founder the Article III Project, Mike Davis blasted the Obama judge for his ruling during an appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room.
“Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which is CREW, or a left-wing radical group that pretends like it’s a government watch dog ran to a DC Obama activist judge, Chris Cooper, and they got an injunction telling the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE that they’re subject to FOIA and they have to turn over these records. This ruling is clearly wrong. It’s clearly illegal. FOIA applies to executive branch agencies that have statutory power to administer programs,” Mike Davis told Bannon.
“That does not apply to DOGE. Judges are not required to turn over and make public their internal deliberations, their communications with their law clerks and secretaries and other judges and staff. Members of Congress are not required to turn over their internal deliberations, their conversations with their staff and their colleagues. The President of the United States and his staff are also not required to turn over and make public their internal communications and their discussions with their colleagues. That FOIA does not apply to them. DOGE reports it’s in the executive office of the President, Elon Musk and the DOGE team report to the White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, and they advise the President. They don’t have statutory administrative functions that would subject them to the to FOIA,” he said.
Mike Davis said the ruling is clearly wrong.
This ruling is clearly wrong. Even if FOIA somehow applies to DOGE, that would probably violate Article II of the Constitution because the founders understood that the executive branch, the President, should be able to operate confidentially on behalf of the American people. When you’re getting advice from your advisors, you don’t want that advice publicly air because it chills the President of the United States’ ability to get the best advice for his advisors if they know it’s going to get reported in the Washington Post,” Davis said.
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