CREW sues multiple departments for records on DOGE

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is suing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Department of Education, Social Security Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs following their failure to release records and failure to grant CREW’s request for expedited processing related to Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) activity at their agencies. In December 2024, CREW requested records held by these agencies related to DOGE, including communications between employees of these agencies and DOGE, but has received no records to date.

Shortly after the 2024 presidential election, then President-elect Donald Trump announced the formation of DOGE to be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Musk and Ramaswamy claimed that DOGE would eliminate excess regulations and expenditures while restructuring federal agencies by seeking documents, data and information from an array of federal departments and agencies. To fulfill this mission, Musk and DOGE representatives communicated with agencies during the presidential transition period as DOGE prepared to implement Trump’s initiative to reshape the functions of government. These communications continued after Trump’s inauguration and have deeply impacted the defendant agencies.

DOGE’s breakneck dismantling of swaths of the federal government including terminating  long-standing government programs, ending billions of dollars of government grants and terminating or suspending tens of thousands of federal employees, all without Congressional authorization to do so and with little transparency, is unprecedented in American history. In light of this assault on the federal government, separation of powers and the rule of law, disclosure of communications between DOGE and the agencies it is wrecking, as required by law, is of utmost urgency.