The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in a lawsuit by a watchdog group seeking public records about Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE. The court stepped into the case on Tuesday, for the second time, in the litigation brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). The Trump administration had asked the justices to take up the matter.
CREW is seeking access to records from DOGE’s work in the early days of President Donald Trump’s second term. The dispute centres on whether the body falls under federal transparency law.
Earlier ruling narrowed a records order
Last year, the high court limited a lower court order that had required the government to hand DOGE-related records to CREW. In June 2025, the court’s conservative majority concluded that US District Judge Christopher Cooper had reached too far in directing that documents be given to the group.
Cooper had ruled in CREW’s favour and ordered the group’s records request processed on an expedited basis. An appeals court panel also sided with CREW.
Dispute over FOIA coverage and presidential advisers
CREW argues that DOGE is a federal agency and is therefore subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The Trump administration counters that the department is exempt from those requirements because it operates as a presidential advisory body.
The administration also claims the appeals court disregarded the Supreme Court’s instruction to consider separation-of-powers concerns. It says the panel intruded on the “autonomy and confidentiality” of presidential advisers. Justice Department lawyers wrote that “Subjecting advisory bodies to intrusive discovery triggers the very concerns that Congress sought to avoid by excluding presidential advisory bodies from FOIA’s reach.”
The government further argues that the appeals court improperly allowed the plaintiffs to take a sworn deposition of DOGE acting administrator Amy Gleason.
CREW’s position and scrutiny of DOGE’s savings
CREW says the appeals court fully complied with the Supreme Court’s earlier order. The group also argues that the public has a right to know how DOGE helped the administration carry out a sweeping overhaul of government operations in 2025. Its lawyers wrote that “Undisputed facts in the public record, including the President’s statements, confirmed that (DOGE) was wielding enormous independent authority across the federal government.”
In a statement on Tuesday, CREW lawyer Nikhel Sus said the lower courts have consistently found the group entitled to records that could help determine whether DOGE holds the kind of authority that would bring it under FOIA. Sus added: “We will continue to pursue transparency for the American people, who deserve to know the details of the Trump Administration’s efforts to unilaterally remake the federal government.”
DOGE has said it cut tens of billions of dollars in spending, but outside financial experts have found those claims difficult to verify. A Government Accountability Office report found that some of the savings DOGE reported from contract, grant and lease terminations were incorrect or lacked supporting evidence. Some of the terminations, the report said, were already under way before DOGE was established.
