Opposition to Elon Musk's role in the US federal government
The actions of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), informally headed by Elon Musk, have been the subject of significant controversy, including protests and ongoing lawsuits.
Court cases have been complicated by difficulties in establishing facts about Musk's role, the identities and formal powers of his associates, and the unclear relationship between Musk, DOGE, and political appointees backed by Musk. Protestors have targeted a variety of entities as well: Musk, DOGE, Tesla, and the Office of Personnel Management.
The White House and the Republican Party have defended DOGE and Musk, stating they are in full compliance with federal law.
Legal challenges
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Legal experts have described much of DOGE's actions as illegal, breaking multiple privacy, security, and congressional laws and regulations. It has been described as taking a "move fast and break things" approach. Legal analysts have alleged breaches of law regarding aspects of the Privacy Act, Internal Revenue Code, and Federal Information Security Modernization Act. Forcing workers out of their offices and claims of "deleting" agencies and seizure of funds authorized by Congress have been described as breaking Article 1 of the United States Constitution and constituting a potential "constitutional crisis".[1][2][3][4]
Legal proceedings have been complicated by difficulties in establishing basic facts, such as how many of Musk's associates have been detailed to specific agencies, whether they act as employees of those agencies or of the White House, and what formal powers they have to demand access to agency computer systems.[5] The relationship of Musk-approved agency appointees to DOGE is also unclear, with DOGE sometimes claiming credit for appointees' actions, resulting in unclear authorship of official actions.[6]
January 2025
Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) lawsuits
On January 20, the day of Trump's inauguration, The Washington Post learned of a pending lawsuit to be launched against DOGE minutes after Trump was to be sworn in, questioning whether DOGE is a presidential advisory commission obeying federal transparency rules about certain practices, such as disclosure and hiring.[7][8] The same day, three more lawsuits were filed against Trump, DOGE, and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), alleging violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which requires that "the advisory committee have a fair balance in viewpoints represented, that they do not meet in secret, and that their records and work product be made available for public inspection".[9] All four lawsuits were filed in the District of Columbia.
The first suit[a] was filed by Public Citizen, State Democracy Defenders Fund, and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) against Trump and the OMB. The Center for Biological Diversity next filed suit against the OMB.[b] National Security Counselors sued DOGE, OMB, Office of Personnel Management, and multiple Trump administration officials,[c] while a coalition of non-government organizations filed suit against OMB and DOGE.[d][9]
Public Citizen, Lentini, and American Public Health Association were all assigned to Biden-appointed judge Jia M. Cobb; the government has filed a motion to consolidate the cases.[10] Center for Biological Diversity has been assigned to Obama-appointed judge Beryl A. Howell.
Treasury payments lawsuits
District of Rhode Island
On January 28, twenty-two state attorneys general filed suit[e] against Trump and the Treasury Department in the District of Rhode Island for a temporary retraining order (TRO) barring Trump from pausing any further federal aid.[11][12] On January 31, Judge John J. McConnell Jr., appointed by President Barack Obama, granted the TRO, effectively blocking Trump's federal aid freeze.[13][14] On February 10, finding that the Trump administration had failed to fully comply with the order, Judge McConnell directed the Trump administration to immediately end any federal funding pause and restore previously frozen funds until a final ruling was made on a permanent injunction to be heard at a later time.[15][16]
The Trump administration appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Harrison Fields, a White House spokesman, said that "every action of the Trump-Vance administration is completely lawful".[17] The First Circuit refused to hear the appeal.[18]
Republican US Representative Andrew Clyde (GA-9) announced plans to file articles of impeachment against McConnell, calling him a "partisan activist weaponizing our judicial system to stop President Trump's funding freeze on woke and wasteful government spending".[19]
Southern District of New York
On February 7, nineteen state attorneys general, largely the same from the Rhode Island federal case, filed suit[f] against Trump and the Treasury Department in the Southern District of New York over DOGE's actions within the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS).[20][21] In the early morning on February 8, Judge Paul A. Engelmayer, appointed by Obama, issued a preliminary injunction barring DOGE members from accessing Treasury data and ordering all existing unauthorized copies to be deleted immediately.[22]
The White House called the ruling "absurd and judicial overreach" and referred to Engelmayer as an "activist"; Musk posted similar sentiments on X and claimed Engelmayer was protecting scammers.[23] Conservative activist Charlie Kirk encouraged the Trump administration to defy the order should it become permanent.[23] That weekend, JD Vance posted on X that "judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power". Arkansas senator Tom Cotton called Engelmayer an "outlaw".[24]
The case was transferred, as is standard, to Biden-appointed judge Jeannette Vargas, who on February 11 adjusted Engelmayer's ruling by allowing Treasury secretary Scott Bessent and other senior department leaders whose roles required Senate confirmation to access Treasury data.[25] A hearing was held before Vargas on February 14; she extended the injunction and said she would rule shortly on whether it would remain in place throughout the proceedings.[26][27][28] The case is expected to last months.[29]
February 2025
On February 5, Republican members of the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform blocked an effort by committee Democrats to subpoena Musk.[30]
On February 7, the ACLU filed Freedom of Information Act requests with over 40 federal agencies "for any records that reveal whether DOGE or its representatives have sought or obtained access to databases containing personally identifiable information, financial records, healthcare data, or other sensitive government-held records of Americans".[31]
On February 21, the Office of Special Counsel, an independent agency that investigates federal workers' complaints, decided that, in a case involving six probationary government workers at six different agencies, the workers had been illegally fired. The decision was revealed on February 24.[32]
Privacy lawsuits
On February 4, three federal employee unions—the Alliance for Retired Americans, the AFGE, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)—filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department,[g] alleging that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unlawfully granted DOGE access to sensitive data. The White House defended Musk's role, stating he had followed all federal laws.[34][35][36] On February 6, judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, appointed by former president Bill Clinton, agreed to a proposal filed by the Justice Department to temporarily limit DOGE to "read-only" access of Treasury data until a hearing for a preliminary injunction could be held on February 24. Department of Justice lawyers struggled to explain how DOGE plans to use sensitive taxpayer data.[37] In the hearing, Kollar-Kotelly said that she had "concerns about the constitutionality of U.S.D.S.'s structure and operations". She also questioned the government's lawyer about who the DOGE administrator is and what Musk's specific role is in DOGE, but the lawyer said that he didn't know.[38]
On February 7, the University of California Student Association filed a lawsuit[h] against acting secretary of education Denise Carter and the Department of Education (ED) in the District of Columbia, claiming an "enormous and unprecedented" "intrusion into individuals' privacy".[39][40][41] The case has been assigned to Obama-appointed judge Randolph D. Moss.[42]
On February 11, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed its own lawsuit[i] to prevent DOGE from accessing OPM's data.[43]
USAID firings and shutdown
On February 6, a lawsuit[j] seeking to halt the shutdown of USAID was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia by the American Foreign Service Association and the AFGE.[45] The judge, Trump-appointed Carl J. Nichols, issued a temporary restraining order on February 7 against imminent plans for 2,200 employees to be placed on administrative leave and for overseas USAID workers to return to the US.[46] After a hearing, Judge Nichols extended the freeze through February 21.[47]
Nichols held a telephone hearing on February 19. After Trump-appointed USAID leader Peter Marocco initially told the court that overseas USAID employees would be given a choice as to whether remain abroad while on administrative leave, but days later told the court otherwise, Nichols called the government's contradictions "a mess" and ordered the DOJ to clarify its stance by February 20.[48]
Compensation for access to data
On February 12, a class action suit[k] was filed against Musk, Office of Personnel Management, Department of Treasury and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.[49] Gribbon v. Musk claims that taxpayers, federal employees and those receiving benefits should be compensated for DOGE's access to their personal and financial data.[49] It has been assigned to judge Christopher R. Cooper.
State attorneys general Appointments Clause case
On February 13, fourteen state attorneys general filed suit[l] against Musk, DOGE, and Trump in the District of Columbia, arguing that although Musk had been designated a special government employee, he was acting as a principal officer of the United States, and that the Appointments Clause required him to be confirmed by the Senate.[50] They requested a temporary restraining order preventing Musk and DOGE from firing employees or accessing information from multiple federal agencies. In its response, the Trump administration argued that Musk was a senior advisor to the president and had no formal authority.[51] On February 18, Judge Tanya Chutkan denied the request for the temporary restraining order, though she wrote that the states "legitimately call into question what appears to be the unchecked authority of an unelected individual and an entity that was not created by Congress and over which it has no oversight."[52]
Lawsuits to make DOGE records public
On February 11, watchdog organization American Oversight filed a lawsuit to gain access to all of Musk's communications involving the termination of employees across the federal government. Its lawsuit states that DOGE is subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).[53][54]
On February 19, the nonpartisan watchdog group Project on Government Oversight sued President Trump, DOGE, and the DOGE administrator over the claim that DOGE records are subject to the Presidential Records Act, and therefore not subject to public records requests. The lawsuit argues that DOGE is subject to the Federal Records Act since it is acting like a federal agency.[54]
Requirement for employees to report accomplishments
On February 22, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent an email to all federal employees, asking them to respond with "what you accomplished last week" by midnight EST on February 24. Shortly before the email went out, Musk posted about it on X, saying that "Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation." A claim that this action was unlawful was added to a pending lawsuit against the OPM for the mass layoffs of probationary workers.[55] Some agencies instructed their employees not to respond to the email.[55] On February 24, the OPM announced that employees were not required to respond to the email.[56]
Mobilization
Protests
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Protestors appeared at Tesla showrooms in numerous cities in the US in February. One of the larger was outside Tesla's Manhattan showroom, where protestors could be heard chanting "Elon Musk can go to Mars; we don't need your Nazi cars" referring to the Elon Musk salute controversy and Musk's support for Alternative for Germany. Protests also took place in San Francisco, Berkeley, Minneapolis, and Kansas City among others. Musician Sheryl Crow posted to social media a video showing a flatbed truck removing a Tesla she had sold in protest.[57]
In early February, employees at the Technology Transformation Services, a technology office within the General Services Administration, protested against Trump appointee Thomas Shedd during an internal meeting where he was encouraging staff to consider the deferred resignation program. Employees flooded the video conferencing chat with spoon emojis in opposition to Shedd, Musk and DOGE.[58]
On February 3, protesters gathered outside the Office of Personnel Management and indicated that they would continue to protest for the rest of the week in opposition to DOGE and Musk. The protestors claimed that Musk had illegally taken control of the government's infrastructure,[59] and raised concerns that Musk was an unelected foreign national who was potentially stealing sensitive information stored in federal servers.[60]
A rally was organized in front of the Treasury Department the next day via word of mouth and social media, with initially 50 participants that grew into hundreds. Participants included federal workers, retirees and others who were alarmed and angry over Musk and DOGE's actions and its trajectory, chanting "Elon Musk has to go" and signs reading "No Trump, No Musk, No Fascist USA" and "Musk owns Trump". Democratic politicians such as Senator Chuck Schumer, Senator Chris Van Hollen, and Representative Maxine Waters spoke out at the protest.[61][62]
Federal workers continued to protest at Tesla showrooms in February. Hundreds appeared at a San Francisco showroom on February 19. Workers included Hai Binh Nguyen, who lamented the halting of her work at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau where she takes action against unfair business practices. Protestors also expressed concerns that government services would be privatized and sold off to billionaires.[63]
As of February 17, 2025, protests against DOGE at the United States Capitol are ongoing.[64]
r/FedNews Reddit resistance
Within one week of DOGE's mass layoff plan, the subreddit r/FedNews became a central hub for information sharing by federal government employees of DOGE actions and DOGE actors, and organizing resistance against the Trump administration.[65][66][67] The subreddit gained 250,000 members between the 2024 United States presidential election and February 7, 2025,[67] and entered the top 1% of subreddits by subscriber count.[65]
The subreddit states that it is unaffiliated with and not endorsed by the United States government.[68] The subreddit describes itself as "a secure space for United States Federal Government employees to express their opinions, share experiences, and discuss news and information pertinent to their employment."[65] Right-wing social media influencers have been critical of it, with unproven allegations of federal employees using Reddit while on duty.[67]
USDS resignations
On February 25, 21 USDS engineers, data scientists and product managers resigned.[69] In an official letter addressed to Susan Wiles, they write: "We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans' sensitive data, or dismantle critical public service. We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE's actions."[70] The USDS is part of the DOGE structure by executive order.[71]
Political involvement
On February 25, Politico reports that "Early interest in running for office is already beginning to rise — at least one major candidate recruitment organization saw a sharp spike of more than 2,000 new applications pouring in as Musk issued major actions pushing federal workers out."[72]
See also
Notes
- ^ Public Citizen v. Trump, No. 25-cv-164 (D.D.C. January 20, 2025)
- ^ Center for Biological Diversity v. Office of Management and Budget, No. 25-165 (D.D.C. January 20, 2025)
- ^ Lentini v. Dept. of Government Efficiency, No. 1:25-cv-00166 (D.D.C. January 20, 2025)
- ^ Amer. Public Health Ass'n v. Office of Management and Budget, No. 25-cv-167 (D.D.C. January 20, 2025)
- ^ New York et al. v. Trump et al., No. 1:25-cv-00039 (D.R.I. January 28, 2025)
- ^ New York et al. v. Trump et al., No. 25-CV-1144 (S.D.N.Y. February 7, 2025)
- ^ Alliance for Retired Americans v. Bessent, No. 1:25-cv-00313 (D.D.C. February 3, 2025)[33]
- ^ Univ. of California Student Ass'n v. Carter, No. 1:25-cv-00354 (D.D.C. February 7, 2025)
- ^ Am. Fed'n of Gov't Employees v. U.S. Off. of Personnel Mgmt., No. 1:25-cv-01237 (S.D.N.Y. February 11, 2025)
- ^ American Foreign Service Ass'n v. Trump, No. 1:25-cv-00352 (D.D.C. February 6, 2025)[44]
- ^ Gribbon v. Musk, No. 1:25-cv-00422 (D.D.C. February 12, 2025)
- ^ New Mexico v. Musk, No. 25-cv-429 (D.D.C. February 13, 2025)
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A class action against Elon Musk alleges taxpayers, federal employees and those receiving benefits should be compensated for DOGE's access to their personal and financial data
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