Chief Justice agrees to pause court orders requiring DOGE to turn over records about its operation

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts agreed Friday to temporarily pause orders that would require Elon Musk ’s Department of Government Efficiency to publicly disclose information about its operations.

The order came after the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court in a lawsuit filed against DOGE by a government watchdog group.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington argues that DOGE, which has been central to President Donald Trump’s push to remake the government, is a federal agency and must be subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

But the Trump administration says DOGE is just a presidential advisory body aimed at rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, which would make it exempt from requests for documents under FOIA.

CREW sued in February, claiming that DOGE “wields shockingly broad power” with no transparency about its actions. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper found that its role is likely more than just advisory, noting claims in helping to shutter USAID and cut billions of dollars in government contracts.

Cooper had ordered DOGE to turn over documents and have acting DOGE administrator Amy Gleason answer questions under oath by June 13.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer called Cooper’s orders “extraordinarily overbroad and intrusive.”

The case is the latest in a string of emergency appeals taken to the Supreme Court after lower courts have blocked parts of Trump’s sweeping agenda.