PANews reported on January 21 that according to Businessinsider, three lawsuits against the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk were filed in federal court just after US President Trump was sworn in. The lawsuits accused DOGE of violating the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) of 1972 and failing to meet transparency requirements such as public meetings, balanced perspectives, and record keeping.
The first lawsuit was filed by the left-wing legal organization Democracy Forward, claiming that DOGE is a "shadow organization" dominated by "unelected billionaires" that may make decisions that affect millions of Americans without transparency and oversight. The second lawsuit was filed by the National Security Counselors, focusing on the establishment and operation procedures of DOGE, arguing that it did not comply with the legal provisions of the advisory committee. The lawsuit also accused DOGE of lacking diversity and balance due to its membership being mainly executives in the technology industry.
The third lawsuit was filed jointly by Public Citizen, State Democracy Defenders Fund and the American Federation of Government Employees, claiming that DOGE members fail to represent the interests of ordinary Americans. The three parties had previously applied to the Trump transition team for representation in DOGE, but received no response.
Although Musk previously stated that all of DOGE's actions would be made public online to ensure transparency, the lawsuit claims that a large amount of its communications were conducted through the encrypted application Signal, which lacked openness. Litigation attorney McClanahan said that DOGE may make short-sighted decisions due to the lack of federal staff's perspective, emphasizing that "government work is different from business operations." At present, Musk, Trump and related representatives have not responded to this.
