The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear a legal dispute over access to records from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The Trump administration is seeking to prevent watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) from obtaining internal documents. The case concerns DOGE’s role in restructuring the federal government during the early months of President Donald Trump’s second term.
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The central question is whether DOGE qualifies as a federal agency under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). CREW argues that the organisation should disclose records about its operations and decision-making. The Trump administration maintains that DOGE functions as a presidential advisory body and therefore falls outside the law’s disclosure requirements.
The dispute has already reached the Supreme Court once. In June 2025, the court’s conservative majority ruled that a lower court had gone too far in ordering the government to release DOGE-related documents. However, the legal proceedings continued after that decision, allowing the watchdog to pursue its request through the lower courts.
The proceedings allowed CREW to seek a sworn deposition from DOGE acting administrator Amy Gleason. The Justice Department has strongly opposed that step, arguing that questioning presidential advisers could interfere with confidential White House discussions.
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CREW maintains that DOGE exercised significant authority across federal agencies, making public access to its records important for government accountability. The administration argues that presidential advisers need confidentiality to perform their duties effectively. The Supreme Court’s upcoming review could clarify how transparency laws apply to presidential advisory bodies and determine the extent of DOGE’s obligations to disclose its internal records.