Within minutes after Donald Trump took oath as the 47th President of the United States, at least three lawsuits were filed in federal courts to halt Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” until it meets transparency requirements for governmental advisory bodies.
Kicking off a legal battle as US President Donald Trump kicks off his presidency, it becomes the first challenge Trump has to face as he takes office.
In a 30-page complaint obtained by The Washington Post newspaper ahead of its filing, the public interest law firm National Security Counselors said that the nongovernmental DOGE panel is breaking a 1972 law that requires advisory committees to the executive branch to follow certain rules on disclosure, hiring and other practices.
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Musk's department was sued by a trio of organisations, including nonprofit watchdog Public Citizen, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), and the left-wing nonprofit State Democracy Defenders Fund.
'Not abiding law's transparency requirements'
According to the plaintiffs, DOGE has been operating like an advisory committee without abiding by the law’s transparency requirements.
Earlier in November, Trump declared that Vivek and Elon would be spearheading the DOGE arm of his government.
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Trump in a statement said, “It will become, potentially, ‘The Manhattan Project’ of our time. Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of ‘DOGE’ for a very long time.”
Trump while announcing the DOGE, aimed that the department will work as a non-government body that will make recommendations for cutting federal spending.
It was expected to work with the Office of Management and Budget, which has also been named as a defendant in the lawsuit filed on Monday in federal court in the District of Columbia.
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“My administration will establish the brand new Department of Government Efficiency,” Trump said Monday, adding that DOGE has been in the works, and hiring, since November.
(With inputs from agencies)