Within minutes of President Donald Trump’s swearing-in on Monday, a handful of ethics watchdogs and public interest groups filed lawsuits against the Trump administration targeting the controversial Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and its outspoken leader, tech billionaire Elon Musk.
The flurry of litigation largely accuses the Trump administration of skirting federal transparency rules that require advisory groups like DOGE to disclose its hiring practices and interactions with government bodies.
Another suit seeks documents regarding DOGE’s interactions with Trump’s transition team.
The influx of litigation filed as Trump delivered his second inaugural address highlights the unorthodox nature of DOGE, which Trump launched after his election triumph as a means to make cuts to the federal budget and workforce. Despite its name, DOGE was conceived not as an agency within the federal government, but as an outside commission led by Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
The most sprawling lawsuit, brought Monday by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington on behalf of a coalition of teachers and veterans unions, challenges the “creation and secret operation of DOGE” and asks the federal district court in Washington, D.C., to “[block] the operation of DOGE until it comes into compliance with the law.”
A separate suit brought by the law firm National Security Counselors accuses DOGE of violating the Federal Advisory Committee Act, a 1972 law that regulates the establishment and operation of federal advisory committees. Under FACA, advisory committees like DOGE are required to hold public meetings, the suit claims.
“Laws have meaning, workers have rights, and real reform requires real accountability,” an attorney who brought the suit told ABC News in a statement. “Denying workers a seat at the table is a good way to make bad policy. My co-plaintiff and I are only asking for what the law demands, which is balance.”
President Donald Trump, center, holds the hand of his wife Melania Trump, right, as their son Barron Trump, center, and Vice President JD Vance, look on after taking the oath of office during the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025.
Morry Gash/AP
A similar lawsuit filed by a union representing thousands of federal employees and a consumer watchdog group accused President Trump of refusing to “regard DOGE as an advisory committee.”
An 11-page suit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, a climate-focused advocacy group, seeks a broad array of records from the Office of Management and Budget, including “all transition materials sent to or received by OMB referencing … DOGE, Elon Musk, or Vivek Ramaswamy.”
“We know Musk is bullying civil servants and boasting about gutting nearly every legal safeguard that protects Americans, but who knows what sweetheart deals he’s making behind the scenes to enrich himself even further,” said Kierán Suckling, the group’s executive director. “We’re going to find out and we won’t leave any stone unturned.”
After winning the election, Trump announced that Musk and Ramaswamy would lead DOGE to provide advice and guidance “outside of government” and partner with the White House and OMB to “drive structural government reform.”
In a joining op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in November, Ramaswamy and Musk said they plan to recommend a “vast reduction” of federal regulations, cut government spending and reduce the number of federal employees.
Earlier Monday, ABC News and other outlets reported that Ramaswamy would step back from DOGE to run for governor of Ohio.