Saturday, 28 June 2025

Chief Justice Hits Pause on DOGE Document Hunt

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Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily blocked discovery into DOGE.

You see, the lower court was probing whether DOGE qualifies as an agency under FOIA.

The move came on an emergency appeal handled by Roberts, who could decide the fate or kick it to the full court.

But he stopped it. Another win for the Department of Government Efficiency!

 

The Hill reports:

Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily halted discovery Friday in a lawsuit seeking access to documents and information about the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) operations.

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In a brief order, Roberts granted the government’s request for an administrative stay, which temporarily lifts a judge’s order allowing limited discovery into whether DOGE is an “agency.” If it is found to be an agency, that would make DOGE subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

The request went to Roberts by default; he handles emergency appeals arising from the nation’s capital. The pause will last until the court decides whether to wipe two lower court rulings letting discovery move forward, which Roberts could himself decide or refer to the full court.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer had argued in the government’s emergency application that DOGE is not an agency. Instead, it’s a “presidential advisory body” housed within the Executive Office of the President, he said.

He suggested that U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, an appointee of former President Obama, ordered DOGE to submit to “sweeping, intrusive” discovery just to determine if it is, in fact, subject to FOIA, which lets the public request information from the government.

Cooper’s order allowed discovery about DOGE employees and all “recommendations” it has made to various agencies, in addition to other internal documents. He also ordered a deposition of acting DOGE Administrator Amy Gleason.

Many can’t believe this actually happened!

RedState adds:

So, here’s the background on this one:

February 20 — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) (founded by Norm Eisen, for those wondering) filed suit against DOGE, Elon Musk, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Russ Vought (its director), the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and Marco Rubio (in his capacity as archivist), asserting all manner of nefarious, shadowy deeds against DOGE and seeking an injunction declaring DOGE an “agency” under U.S. Code provisions, such that it is subject to FOIA requests.

March 10 — Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee, entered an order granting (in part) CREW’s motion for a preliminary injunction.

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April 15 — Judge Cooper entered an order granting expedited discovery in the case.

April 18 — The Trump administration appealed Cooper’s April 15 ruling to the D.C. Circuit, seeking a writ of mandamus quashing his order based on the separation of powers and asserting that DOGE is an advisory body, not an agency subject to such requests.

April 18 — The D.C. Circuit granted an administrative stay of Cooper’s order.

May 14 — The D.C. Circuit dissolved the administrative stay and denied the administration’s petition for writ of mandamus.

May 20 — Judge Cooper denied the administration’s motion for stay as moot and ordered discovery to proceed

May 21 — The administration filed an application for stay in the Supreme Court.
And that brings us to today, with the Chief Justice issuing the order placing an administrative stay on Cooper’s April 15 and May 20 orders.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport.

View the original article here.


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