Washington — The Trump administration on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to halt a lower court order that required the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency to turn over information to a government watchdog group in a lawsuit that tests whether the task force is subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
The request from Solicitor General D. John Sauer arose out of a public records request made by the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington that sought information about DOGE, its operations and personnel. The watchdog group went on to file a federal lawsuit based on that FOIA request, and, as part of the suit, sought categories of information through the discovery process about DOGE’s activities since President Trump took office.
Among the information CREW is seeking is a deposition with Amy Gleason, who the White House has said is the acting administrator of DOGE; a list of federal contracts or grants that DOGE personnel recommended for cancellation; and the names of all current and former DOGE employees, as well as details of their employment and who oversees them.
The district court granted most of CREW’s request for information, including to depose Gleason. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper found that DOGE is likely subject to FOIA and said that the task force’s actions demonstrate that it has “substantial authority over vast swathes of the federal government.”
“Canceling any government contract would seem to require substantial authority — and canceling them on this scale certainly does. Again, USDS reportedly is leading the charge on these actions, not merely advising others to carry them out,” Cooper wrote in a March decision.
He noted that DOGE likely has some independent authority to terminate federal employees, programs and contracts.
“Doing any of those three things would appear to require substantial independent authority; to do all three surely does,” Cooper said.
The Trump administration asked the federal appeals court in Washington to halt the order, which it agreed to do temporarily. Then, last week, a panel of judges on the appeals court lifted its stay, which clears the way for DOGE to hand over the documents sought by CREW. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said that the discovery ordered by the district court is “narrow” and appropriate.
DOGE now has until June 3 to turn over documents, and Gleason’s deposition must be completed by June 13.
The dispute over the efforts to learn more about DOGE, its work and employees turns on whether the task force is subject to FOIA, the federal law that allows members of the public to request access to records and information from federal agencies. FOIA does not apply to Congress, the federal courts and entities within the Executive Office of the President.
In the emergency appeal with the Supreme Court, Sauer argued that DOGE is a presidential advisory body housed within the Executive Office of the President tasked with providing recommendations to Mr. Trump and federal agencies on policy matters that are important to the president’s agenda. Sauer said that as a result of those functions, DOGE is exempt from FOIA.
Sauer claimed that the district court’s order requiring DOGE to hand over information through the discovery process to determine if it is covered by FOIA turns the public records law “on its head” and violates the separation of powers by subjecting it to “intrusive discovery.”
He warned that if it is allowed to stand, several components of the White House like the offices of the chief of staff, national security adviser, and other advisers to the president would be subject to FOIA.
“That untenable result would compromise the provision of candid, confidential advice to the president and disrupt the inner workings of the Executive Branch,” Sauer wrote. “Yet, in the decisions below, the court of appeals and district court treated a presidential advisory body as a potential ‘agency’ based on the persuasive force of its recommendations — threatening opening season for FOIA requests on the president’s advisors.”
Mr. Trump established DOGE when he returned White House as part of an effort to shrink the size of the federal government. The president has repeatedly said that Elon Musk is the head of DOGE, though Justice Department lawyers have said in court filings that he is not an employee of the entity and “has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself.”
Questions about Musk’s role with DOGE eventually led the White House to declare Gleason as its acting administrator. Gleason worked as a senior adviser to the U.S. Digital Service, the precursor to DOGE.
Still, since its establishment, DOGE employees have fanned out across federal agencies to implement cost-cutting measures and were behind steep reductions in the federal workforce, as well as the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Many of DOGE’s efforts, as well as Musk’s role within the task force have been subject to legal challenges.
The Supreme Court is currently weighing an emergency appeal involving DOGE’s attempts to gain access to sensitive information kept by the Social Security Administration and was asked to intervene in a legal battle over reductions in force at 21 agencies.
