A large-scale federal cost-cutting initiative led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is currently facing several lawsuits. These legal challenges coincide with President Trump’s January inauguration.
One of the lawsuits, filed Monday by the public interest law firm National Security Counselors, accuses DOGE of functioning as a federal advisory committee.
This, the lawsuit argues, places the initiative in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), a law that governs the transparency and operations of federal advisory committees.
According to the lawsuit, FACA mandates that advisory committees must be “fairly balanced in terms of the points of view represented and the functions to be performed.”
It was filed shortly after noon Eastern time in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, National Security Counselors told CBS MoneyWatch.
The law also specifies that advisory committees should be “objective and accessible to the public,” as outlined by the U.S. General Services Administration.
A coalition of veterans, public health professionals, teachers, and other groups also filed a suit on Monday against DOGE, citing violations of FACA and seeking to block the initiative until it complies with the law.
“The question every American should be asking is ‘What are they hiding?’” said Skye Perryman, CEO of Democracy Forward, a legal organization representing the plaintiffs.
“DOGE must not be allowed to operate in the shadows without the transparency, oversight, and opportunity for public participation required of any federal department by the law.”
Elon Musk and Trump
DOGE Accused of Breaking the Law
Although DOGE is not an official government agency, it was tasked by President Trump with providing recommendations on reducing federal spending. Musk and Ramaswamy, who are both involved in the initiative, have stated that their goal is to cut approximately $500 billion in annual government expenditures.
The lawsuit claims that DOGE has mostly appointed three types of individuals to work on its initiatives: tech industry executives, people with ties to the Trump campaign and his previous administration, and associates of Musk or Ramaswamy.
The lawsuit alleges that DOGE is in violation of FACA because “not a single member of DOGE is a federal employee or represents the perspective of federal employees,” despite the fact that DOGE intends to make recommendations about federal employment practices and reducing the federal workforce.
Additionally, the lawsuit contends that DOGE is violating the law’s requirement for advisory committee meetings to be open to the public. It points out that Musk and Ramaswamy have held private meetings with elected officials and tech executives.
“Nobody disputes that there is a huge amount of wasteful spending in the federal government,” said Kel McClanahan, the executive director of National Security Counselors.
“Our only concern is that DOGE, as it is currently constituted, lacks the expertise to understand how its recommendations will backfire if it pushes federal workers out without understanding why they are there in the first place.”
He added, “Government work is not corporate work, and any recommendations made without that perspective are doomed to fail.”
The lawsuit’s plaintiffs include two men who applied for positions with DOGE. One of them, Jerald Lentini, is an attorney for National Security Counselors, while the other, Joshua Erlich, is an attorney who frequently represents federal employees and could advocate for their interests. The lawsuit notes that neither has received a response to their applications from DOGE.
“Plaintiffs conclude that, upon information and belief, neither Lentini nor Erlich, nor anyone similarly situated who would represent the perspectives of federal employees (including national security employees), unions, or accountability and transparency advocates, will be selected for DOGE,” the lawsuit asserts.
