DOGE’s Authority Challenged by Missouri Group in New Venue (3)

A Missouri nonprofit made up of “nonpartisan citizen members” is the latest group to target the new Department of Government Efficiency, President Donald Trump‘s initiative to slash government agency personnel.

Citizens Against Donald Trump Inc. alleges that the president, DOGE head Elon Musk, and others are using “unchecked secrecy, access, and private influence—bought by political loyalty” to make drastic cuts to federal programs, according to a new lawsuit entered Thursday.

Multiple lawsuits, often filed in federal court in the District of Columbia and the Eastern District of Virginia, have challenged DOGE’s creation and authority. The latest lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, appears to open a new front.

The lawsuit further alleges that DOGE is “a shadow operation led by unelected billionaires who stand to reap huge financial rewards from this influence and access.”

DOGE excludes the perspectives of people with the “greatest stake” in the services and programs it has recommended eliminating, the Missouri nonprofit says. Instead, its recommendations benefit industry titans, “who have made clear their desire to be free from the regulations they propose to slash.”

The nonprofit is asking for injunctive relief, including an order enjoining DOGE from continuing its work until it complies with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, created in 1972 as a “sunshine law” to curb executive branch reliance on secretive “advisory committees.”

The group also seeks an order compelling DOGE to release all of its records to the public, except those records that need to be withheld by law; an order compelling DOGE to cite the applicable law that applies to any record withheld; and an order that bars the other defendants from acting on DOGE’s recommendations.

The suit lists Trump, Musk, and DOGE as defendants, as well as Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, OMB, Acting Director of the Office of Government Ethics Doug Collins, and OGE.

White House spokesman Harrison Fields, responding to the lawsuit, said that “the media and some DOGE detractors prefer to distract the public with irrelevant headlines, undermining the unprecedented effort to make government more efficient.” Yet, “the American people are fully behind the President and he remains committed to this mission.”

Spokespeople for Musk and DOGE, and OMB didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment about the lawsuit.

Schottel & Associates PC represents Citizens Against Donald Trump.

The case is Citizens Against donald Trump Inc. v. Trump, E.D. Mo., No. 4:25-cv-00311, complaint entered 3/13/25.