In less than 30 minutes on Monday, Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency were hit with three different lawsuits over the legal status of the effort to find federal regulations to eliminate and federal employees to fire.
The lawsuits landed as Musk rubbed elbows with fellow billionaires at President Donald Trump’s inauguration. As Trump crowed during his speech about DOGE and sending astronauts to Mars, government watchdogs and civil society organizations filed litigation claiming DOGE violates federal law because of its structure and secrecy.
“DOGE is operating unchecked, without authorization or funding from Congress and is led by unelected billionaires.”
“Currently, DOGE is operating unchecked, without authorization or funding from Congress and is led by unelected billionaires who are not representative of ordinary Americans,” said Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, in a statement announcing one of the lawsuits, which it filed alongside the American Federation of Teachers and other groups.
Another lawsuit was filed by National Security Counselors, a nonprofit law firm. The third lawsuit came courtesy of Public Citizen, a consumer protection group, and the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union for federal workers. Unions have spent the months since the election steeling themselves for a fight over DOGE.
Although DOGE is styled as a “department,” Trump lacks the legal authority to create official departments without legislation from Congress. (During his speech, Trump also said he would establish an “External Revenue Service” to collect his promised tariffs, which would also require a statute.)
The three lawsuits, filed in federal court in Washington, all allege that DOGE flouts the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The law requires certain committees that advise the federal government to follow particular procedures, including drafting a formal charter and holding public meetings, which DOGE has not done.
“The advice and guidance that Mr. Trump has charged DOGE with producing is sweeping and consequential,” said Public Citizen in an emailed statement. “DOGE — the members of which currently do not represent the interests of everyday Americans — will be considering cuts to government agencies and programs that protect health, benefits, consumer finance, and product safety.”
In its statement, CREW said, “DOGE representatives have reportedly already been speaking with agency officials throughout the federal government, and communication is allegedly taking place on Signal, a messaging app known for its auto-delete features.”
The initial fight will be over whether DOGE fits the criteria of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The litigants argue it does since it is “an advisory committee charged by Mr. Trump with providing advice or recommendations to the President and to one or more federal agencies regarding regulatory and fiscal matters,” as Public Citizen asserts in its filing.
Since Trump’s victory in November, Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who Trump also tapped to lead DOGE, have been busy staffing up the effort with Silicon Valley types and finding office space, including potentially inside the federal Office of Management and Budget. (Ramaswamy is expected to step away later this month to run for governor in Ohio.)
DOGE’s “intended goal is clear,” according to the National Security Counselors’ suit, which named both Musk and Ramaswamy personally as defendants, along with Trump and other officials. The suit says “recommendations made by unaccountable outsiders without transparent deliberations which will reduce the size of the federal workforce by whatever means necessary.”
CREW’s lawsuit names DOGE, the federal Office of Management and Budget, and the acting head of OMB as defendants, while Public Citizen’s names just Trump and OMB.
