DOGE Opposition is Getting Organized!

Three lawsuits dating back to Trump’s Inauguration Day challenge DOGE’s very existence, arguing it violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The 1972 law requires various advisory groups that may influence the president to be public, unbiased and transparent.  DOGE is not a federal department, and, they argue, therefore subject to these rules.

“DOGE’s unchecked secrecy, access and private influence — bought by political loyalty — is anathema to efficient, effective government,” reads one of the suits, filed by a consortium of six groups, including Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “Indeed, any federally endorsed, but fundamentally private, advisory effort to shape how our government serves the American people must comply with federal transparency laws, including FACA. Defendants have not done so.”

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.276598/gov.uscourts.dcd.276598.1.0.pdf

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.276600/gov.uscourts.dcd.276600.1.0.pdf

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.276601/gov.uscourts.dcd.276601.1.0.pdf

Four additional lawsuits have been filed this week, each tied to DOGE’s actions at specific federal agencies:

1. On Tuesday, three union-affiliated groups sued the Treasury Department in U.S. District Court for turning over personal and financial information to DOGE. The list of allegedly compromised data includes millions of Americans’ names, Social Security numbers, birthdates, birthplaces, home addresses and telephone numbers, email addresses and bank account information. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on Thursday ordered the Treasury to limit DOGE’s access to the records to two employees who were given read-only access.

2. On Wednesday, five government unions and the Economic Policy Institute filed suit in U.S. District Court over DOGE’s actions at the Department of Labor, where the plaintiffs argue DOGE’s data grab violates both the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Administrative Procedure Act.

(Musk’s siphoning up of Labor Department data deserves particular scrutiny. Tesla, the car company Musk owns, has been regularly accused of violating various labor laws; from 2014-2018, Tesla racked up three times more Occupational Safety and Health violations than its other top 10 competitors combined.)

3. On Thursday, the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees filed suit in U.S. District Court over the dismantling of USAID. The lawsuit contends that Congress (not Trump or Musk) is the only entity with the political power to shut down USAID, since it was created via congressional authorization.

4. On Friday, the University of California Student Association sued the Department of Education for failing to protect sensitive data from DOGE tied to federal student loans. The information includes student names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, driver’s license numbers and financial information on the students' parents.