President-elect Donald Trump listens to Elon Musk as he arrives to watch SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship lift off for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Nov. 19, 2024 (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP, File).
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday ordered Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to turn over documents and answer a series of questions regarding “DOGE’s and Musk’s role and authority” within the Trump administration.
In a 14-page order, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan directed Musk and DOGE to respond to questions regarding the elimination and reduction of federal agencies, firings of federal employees, cancellations of federal contracts, and accessing and making changes to federal agencies. She also instructed the organization to “identify DOGE personnel and the parameters of DOGE’s and Musk’s authority”
The order stemmed from a lawsuit filed last month by a coalition of 14 Democratic states alleging that President Donald Trump’s grant of sweeping power to Musk and DOGE violated the U.S. Constitution’s Appointments Clause by delegating “virtually unchecked authority” to the tech billionaire without proper legal authority from Congress or “meaningful supervision of his activities.”
The court afforded the defendants 21 days to file their responses instead of the typical seven days to “avoid any unnecessary intrusion into the operation of the Office of the President.” Chutkan also rejected a request for depositions, but noted that she would revisit that request if the defendants fail to adequately respond to the written discovery.
The court rejected DOGE’s “broad privilege assertions,” reasoning that the plaintiffs’ discovery requests were “crafted specifically to avoid infringing on governmental privileges,” particularly by not seeking information from Trump or requesting electronic communications.
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