Trump Administration Fights Order to Turn Over DOGE Records (1)

The Trump administration is appealing a judge’s order requiring Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to comply with evidence demands from Democratic state officials who claim the billionaire is exercising unconstitutional power across the US government.

The US Justice Department is arguing the lower court judge’s “unusual and highly invasive” order “raises grievous separation-of-powers concerns” by requiring a presidential adviser and the White House to turn over information about their activities, according to the petition filed in the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

This is the first fight to reach a federal appeals court over disclosure of information about the involvement of Musk and DOGE in leading President Donald Trump’s effort to remake the federal government and cut spending. If the DC Circuit decides not to intervene in the case, the Justice Department could file an emergency request with the US Supreme Court.

Read More: Judge Finds Musk Role in USAID Closure Likely Violated Law

The government is challenging a March 12 ruling from US District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington. She allowed Democratic state attorneys general to request documents and written responses to questions about the role DOGE and Musk played in winding down federal agencies, shedding government workers and cutting program spending, as well as accessing US agency computer systems.

Those requests for information would go to Musk and the formal DOGE entities Trump created within the office of the president in a Jan. 20 executive order. In other cases, judges have ordered US agencies to comply with evidence requests related to DOGE, but Chutkan’s order was squarely directed at DOGE and Musk — a temporary special government employee advising Trump.

Limits Imposed

However, Chutkan denied the request by blue-state attorneys general to question DOGE officials in depositions and limited demands for information to DOGE actions that affected the 14 states that sued. She also made clear that the evidence requests didn’t apply to Trump.

The lawsuit is one of several that accuse Musk and DOGE of violating the US Constitution as DOGE-affiliated employees sweep through federal agencies in search of ways to curtail spending and reduce the size of the workforce.

The states are demanding “a full accounting of DOGE’s activities and their intrusion into sensitive government systems, their cancellation of congressionally approved appropriations and their unlawful attempt to dismantle the federal government,” New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, whose office is leading the coalition pressing the case, said in a statement.

“The real question is, if Musk and company are acting within the bounds of law and truly eliminating waste, fraud and abuse, then what do they have to hide?” Torrez said.

Chutkan hasn’t ruled yet on the merits of the state officials’ claims. The challenge to her order came one day after a Maryland federal judge ruled that another set of challengers were likely to succeed in arguing that Musk and DOGE exercised an unconstitutional amount of power in the recent shuttering of the US Agency for International Development.

Last week, another federal judge in Washington ruled the DOGE office had to comply with a records request under the federal Freedom of Information Act. The government has asked the judge to reconsider that decision but hasn’t appealed yet.

The case is New Mexico v. Musk, 25-5072, US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

(Updated with comment from New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez.)

To contact the reporter on this story:
Zoe Tillman in Washington at ztillman2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net

Steve Stroth, Anthony Aarons

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