Trump administration asks Supreme Court to block disclosure in FOIA fight over Musk's DOGE

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WASHINGTON − The Trump administration wants the Supreme Court to intervene in its fight to prevent DOGE from being subject to open records laws.

In an emergency request filed on May 21, the Justice Department asked the court to pause judicial orders requiring DOGE produce documents and testimony about its operations as a federal court decides whether the Department of Government Efficiency started by Elon Musk must comply with the Freedom of Information Act.

The administration argues DOGE is a presidential advisory body so is exempt from the nation's premier public disclosure law.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group, is suing DOGE, arguing it's provided "no meaningful transparency into its operations or assurances that it is maintaining proper records."

The group wants to learn more about DOGE's role in Trump's efforts to dramatically downsize and reshape the federal government.

"Now more than ever, Americans deserve transparency in their government," Donald Sherman, CREW's executive director and chief counsel has said.

This is not the first DOGE-related request to reach the Supreme Court.

The Trump administration has also asked the justices to let DOGE have personnel access to the data of millions of Americans kept by the U.S. Social Security Administration.

In the latest case, the administration is balking at a judge's determination that DOGE appears to have enough independent authority that it should be subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper also said in a March order that DOGE has been "marked by unusual secrecy."

When the administration tried to dismiss CREW's suit, Cooper said DOGE must turn over information the watchdog group needs to try to prove its case.

The Justice Department told the Supreme Court that decision "turns FOIA on its head," effectively requiring disclosure before courts have definitively said DOGE must comply with the act.

That could lead to "opening season for FOIA requests on the President's advisors," Solicitor General John Sauer argued in his emergency appeal.

"This Court has rejected similar fishing expeditions into executive-branch functions," Sauer wrote, "and it should not allow this one to proceed."

The Supreme Court asked CREW to respond to the administration's request by noon on May 23.