A group of organizations immediately sued the Trump administration as the president was inaugurated on Monday, arguing that its new “Department of Government Efficiency” violates federal transparency law.
DOGE is headed by Donald Trump allies Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, and Vivek Ramaswamy, the conservative entrepreneur. Its stated aim is to help Trump enact massive cuts to government spending and make the federal bureaucracy “more efficient.”
Despite its name, DOGE is not a real government department and isn’t subject to the same oversight and accountability as normal federal agencies. The lawsuit alleges DOGE runs afoul of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, a law passed in 1972 to ensure that the advice given by advisory bodies is ideologically balanced and transparent to the public.
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
The lawsuit was filed by the American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing federal workers, and the watchdog groups Public Citizen and the State Democracy Defenders Fund.
“DOGE’s members do not have a fair balance of viewpoints, meetings are held in secret and without public notice, and records and work product are not available to the public,” the groups said in a joint statement Monday.
They pointed out that Musk’s role running DOGE creates a slew of conflicts of interest. His aerospace company SpaceX has received billions of dollars in federal contracts, and there’s concern Musk will recommend policies that benefit him financially at the expense of taxpayers or other firms.
Musk, who poured more than $250 million of his fortune into helping elect Trump, could also recommend cuts at the federal agencies that regulate his businesses. SpaceX is already pursuing a lawsuit aimed at gutting the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency whose prosecutor accused the company of illegally firing workers who had criticized Musk.
It isn’t clear whether Ramaswamy will stick around to co-chair DOGE alongside Musk. Politico reported Monday that he was leaving DOGE to prepare to run for governor of Ohio.
Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, said in a statement that DOGE’s advice appears tilted toward the “biased and extremist views of the libertarian billionaire class.”
The work of DOGE is a particular concern for unions like the AFGE, which represents 750,000 workers across federal agencies. The Trump administration says it wants to freeze government hiring, cut agency funding and make it easier to fire federal employees.
Everett Kelley, AFGE’s president, said in a statement that the union won’t stand by as a “secretive group of ultra-wealthy individuals” tries to “deregulate themselves.”
“This fight is about fairness, accountability, and the integrity of our government,” Kelley said.
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