Elon Musk's DOGE faces lawsuit as Donald Trump inaugurated

A sweeping federal cost-cutting effort led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is facing multiple lawsuits, with the litigation coinciding with President Trump's January inauguration.

One suit, filed Monday by a public interest law firm called National Security Counselors, claims DOGE is operating as a federal advisory committee. That puts the initiative in violation of a law called the Federal Advisory Committee Act, or FACA, which regulates the functions and transparency of federal advisory committees, according to the group. 

FACA requires these groups to be "fairly balanced in terms of the points of view represented and the functions to be performed by the advisory committee," the lawsuit states. The lawsuit 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 requires that advisory committees are "objective and accessible to the public," according to the U.S. General Services Administration. 

A coalition representing veterans, public health professionals, teachers and other groups also filed a suit Monday against DOGE, citing FACA and asking a court to block DOGE's activities until it complies with law. 

"The question every American should be asking is 'What are they hiding?'" Skye Perryman, CEO of Democracy Forward, a legal organization representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement. "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." 

Neither the Trump campaign nor Elon Musk immediately responded to a request for comment. Ramaswamy is expected to step away from DOGE as he embarks on a campaign for Ohio governor later this month.

DOGE breaking the law?

DOGE, which isn't an official government agency, was tasked by Trump to produce recommendations on trimming federal outlays, with billionaires Musk and Ramaswamy saying they aimed to cut about $500 billion in annual expenditures. The lawsuit claims that DOGE so far appears to have largely appointed three types of people to work on its efforts: tech industry executives, people affiliated with the Trump campaign and his prior administration as well as associates of Musk or Ramaswamy's. 

The lawsuit alleges that, as a result, 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 evidence that DOGE intends to provide recommendations regarding federal employment practices and ways to reduce the size of the federal workforce."

It also claims that DOGE is violating the law's mandate that advisory committee meetings must be open to the public, noting that Musk and Ramaswamy have held private meetings with various elected officials, as well as with tech executives. 

"Nobody disputes that there is a huge amount of wasteful spending in the federal government," Kel McClanahan, the executive director of National Security Counselors, said in an email to CBS MoneyWatch. "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 sent in applications to be hired by DOGE. One, Jerald Lentini, is an attorney for National Security Counselors, while the second, Joshua Erlich, is an attorney who frequently represents federal employees and could represent their viewpoints, the lawsuit notes. Neither has heard back from DOGE about their applications. 

"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 claims. 

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