Supreme Court sides with Trump administration in DOGE secrecy battle
The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Trump administration’s challenge to a lawsuit seeking public records about trillionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).The move has reopened a legal battle over whether the US government initiative is subject to federal transparency laws.The case was brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which argues that DOGE should be treated as a federal agency and made subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The watchdog is seeking records of DOGE’s activities during the early months of US president Donald Trump’s second term.The Trump administration maintains that DOGE is a presidential advisory body and is therefore exempt from FOIA requirements. Its lawyers argue that allowing the lawsuit to proceed would undermine the “autonomy and confidentiality” of presidential advisers.The administration has also challenged an appeals court ruling that permitted the plaintiffs to seek a sworn deposition from DOGE acting administrator Amy Gleason.
The Supreme Court is intervening for the second time in the dispute. In June 2025, its conservative majority narrowed a lower court order requiring the government to produce DOGE-related records, finding that US District Judge Christopher Cooper had ruled too broadly.However, according to news agency AP, Cooper had ruled in CREW’s favour by ordering expedited processing of its records request, and an appeals court panel also sided with the watchdog.
CREW maintains that the panel complied with the Supreme Court’s earlier directions.The group argues that the public has a right to understand how DOGE helped the Trump administration carry out a sweeping overhaul of federal government operations in 2025. Its lawyers said public statements by Trump and other undisputed facts indicated that DOGE exercised substantial independent authority across the government.In a statement on Tuesday, CREW attorney Nikhel Sus said lower courts had consistently found that the group was entitled to records that could help establish whether DOGE’s authority made it subject to FOIA.“We will continue to pursue transparency for the American people, who deserve to know the details of the Trump Administration's efforts to unilaterally remake the federal government,” Sus said, according to AP.