US Supreme Court agrees to hear watchdog case on Elon Musk’s DOGE records

The Trump administration argues that DOGE is exempt from freedom of information requirements.The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in a watchdog’s lawsuit seeking public records about trillionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).The high court is intervening on Tuesday for a second time in Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) in Washington’s case, which seeks access to DOGE records from its operations in the early days of US President Donald Trump’s second term. The Trump administration asked the court to hear the case.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Trump gives top US science awards to Elon Musk and other tech executiveslist 2 of 3Musk vows ‘affordable’ Starlink in India as he escalates feud with Ambanilist 3 of 3Elon Musk spends $366m to bolster Republican Party in US midterm electionsend of listLast year, the high court reined in a district court’s order for the government to produce DOGE-related records to CREW. The high court’s conservative majority concluded in June 2025 that US District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled too broadly in ordering documents to be turned over to the group.CREW claims DOGE is a federal agency and therefore is subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).The Trump administration argues that DOGE is exempt from FOIA’s requirements as a presidential advisory body.Cooper ruled in CREW’s favour and ordered expedited processing of the group’s records request. An appeals court panel also sided with CREW.The Trump administration claims the panel ignored the Supreme Court’s direction to consider separation-of-powers concerns and intruded on the “autonomy and confidentiality” of presidential advisers.“Subjecting advisory bodies to intrusive discovery triggers the very concerns that Congress sought to avoid by excluding presidential advisory bodies from FOIA’s reach,” US Department of Justice lawyers wrote.