Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, LITIGATION NEWS, TRENDS—Citizen watchdog org sues U.S. DOGE, Musk, and others demanding FOIA records and recordkeeping compliance, (Feb 21, 2025)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

DOGE, they argue, “must comply with federal transparency laws, regardless of whether it is a fully governmental body or a mix of public and private actors.”

In a new lawsuit filed in D.C. federal court by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) against U.S. DOGE Service, Musk, OMB, the National Archives and Records Administration, and others, the nonpartisan, nonprofit government watchdog organization alleges that, in spite of DOGE’s vow to operate with “maximum transparency,” it “has done the opposite.”

Working in the shadows. “Since President Trump first announced its creation in November 2024, and even after he formally established it by executive order as “the United States DOGE Service” (USDS),” they allege, “the entity has worked in the shadows—a cadre of largely unidentified actors, whose status as government employees is unclear, controlling major government functions with no oversight. USDS has provided no meaningful transparency into its operations or assurances that it is maintaining proper records of its unprecedented and legally dubious work.”

They allege that USDS is “purely a creation of executive order” and that “[n]o statute authorizes its existence or operations. And yet, USDS wields shockingly broad power over all manner of federal functions—far exceeding its limited legal authority.”

Noncompliance with FOIA, FRA. Under federal law, they allege, USDS is required to operate transparently and must disclose its records under FOIA, as well as preserve them under the Federal Records Act. However, the defendants, they allege, have refused to comply with CREW’s FOIA requests for USDS records and their repeated demands for record preservation under the FRA.

They explain:

• “The American people have a right to know how USDS is managing (or mismanaging) their tax dollars and their data, how it is exercising its authority to influence government operations, whether conflicts of interest in USDS leadership are impacting its work, and the extent to which it is operating outside of its slim legal mandate. And the public interest is heightened by the unprecedented nature and scale of USDS’s operations. USDS must comply with federal transparency laws, regardless of whether it is a fully governmental body or a mix of public and private actors.”

Therefore, their suit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief requiring the defendants to comply with their FOIA requests and to comply with the FRA requirements.

The case is No. 1:25-cv-00511.

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