Judge orders DOGE and Elon Musk to turn over documents, answer written questions
SOURCE: Politico
A federal judge has ordered that Elon Musk and his Department of Government
Efficiency turn over a wide array of records and answer questions about plans it
crafted to downsize federal agencies, fire employees and suspend federal
contracts.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan's order Wednesday is a win for a group of 14
Democratic state attorneys general who are suing President Donald Trump, Musk
and DOGE, arguing that Musk has unconstitutionally wielded immense power in ways
that are damaging their states. Any information the states glean as a result of
Chutkan's decision will help her determine whether to block Musk and DOGE's
government activities altogether.
It's the first time a judge has ordered Musk to produce documents in a court
challenge to his aggressive campaign to slash and reshape the federal
bureaucracy. Chutkan indicated her order was primarily aimed at identifying
the DOGE officials Musk has embedded across the government and details about the
"parameters of DOGE's and Musk's authority."
She turned down the states' request to force sworn testimony at this stage of
the case. And she emphasized that Trump himself does not have to respond to
the written questions or document demands.
The Trump administration has tried to resist legal discovery concerning
Musk's activities by describing him as a senior White House adviser. Citing
executive privilege, all recent administrations have resisted efforts to force
the president's closest advisers to testify or turn over evidence in connection
with court proceedings.
But Chutkan found that the document requests and written questions about
Musk's role were narrow and would not overly burden the executive branch.
Last month, another federal judge in Washington ordered DOGE and three federal
agencies to produce officials to submit to questioning under oath about the
cost-cutting operation's access to data at federal agencies. But that judge
did not order Musk to do anything, and he let the government decide which
officials will appear.
On Monday, yet another judge in D.C. ruled that DOGE will have to pore through
thousands of pages of documents to respond to a Freedom of Information Act
request from a liberal watchdog group.
FULL STORY at:
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/12/elon-musk-judge-orders-discovery-002279
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