US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to release all internal records related to the agency eliminating government contracts and terminating thousands of federal workers since President Donald Trump took office on January 20. The ruling was issued on Wednesday, giving Musk three weeks to comply with the discovery order.
Chutkan's decision came in response to a lawsuit filed by 14 Democratic state attorneys general against DOGE and Musk who claimed that the tech billionaire and his team of engineers responsible for reducing federal expenditure were using "unchecked power."
"Mr. Musk does not occupy an office of the United States and has not had his nomination for an office confirmed by the Senate," the lawsuit argued, which was filed on February 13 in Washington, D.C. "His officer-level actions are thus unconstitutional."
Musk, 53, was appointed by Trump as a "special government employee" to oversee DOGE, a provisional organization that took the place the White House’s United States Digital Service. The agency's objective is to identify what the Trump administration has characterized as wasteful government spending, fraud, and abuse. The agency has been criticized by Democratic lawmakers and voters, resulting in nationwide protests and crimes targeting Musk-founded Tesla stores and vehicles with severe acts of violence partly due to the mass firings. Some of the non-violent protests have been connected to five left-wing organizations that Musk connected to ActBlue, a Democratic fundraising platform.
The plaintiff states are attempting to identify DOGE personnel as well as the parameters of DOGE's and Musk's authority. Trump has recently commented on Musk’s authority, and said in a Cabinet meeting that individual secretaries are the heads of their agencies, but Musk can make recommendations.
Judge Chutkan wrote in her order that the discovery requests "shall be limited to information and materials regarding agencies, employees, contracts, grants, federal funding, legal agreements, databases, or data management systems that involve or engage with Plaintiff States, including entities and institutions operated or funded by Plaintiff States."
Musk and DOGE are to produce, according to the ruling, documents pertaining to "eliminating or reducing the size of federal agencies; terminating or placing federal employees on leave; canceling, freezing, or pausing federal contracts, grants, or other federal funding; and obtaining access, using, or making changes to federal databases or data management systems.”
