The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to shield Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from being forced to turn over internal agency documents as part of a lawsuit by a watchdog group.
In an emergency application to the justices, Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the justices to immediately block a lower court’s ruling that required the agency to release the records, arguing that the judge had overstepped his authority.
Mr. Sauer argued that the group is exempt from the federal Freedom of Information Act and that a lower court order “clearly violates the separation of powers” by subjecting a presidential advisory group to a request for records, “threatening the confidentiality and candor of its advice.”
The emergency application is the latest in a flurry of filings before the Supreme Court in the months since President Trump returned to office. The court has been asked to make quick determinations on a variety of Trump administration actions, including whether federal trial court judges can issue nationwide blocks on Mr. Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship, whether Venezuelan migrants should receive due process protections before being deported under a wartime law, and whether the administration can summarily end deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from troubled countries.
Wednesday’s application is the second request to the justices by the administration related to actions by Mr. Musk’s team. Earlier this month, the government asked the Supreme Court to let members of DOGE have access to sensitive records of the Social Security Administration. An order from the court on that issue could come any time.
This latest emergency application stems from a lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, a nonpartisan watchdog group.
The organization filed a series of public records requests seeking information about DOGE. In February, CREW sued Mr. Musk and others connected with the downsizing group, claiming they violated federal public records laws by failing to process and release the records.
That same month, the White House tried to designate Mr. Musk’s group formally as an entity insulated from public records requests or most judicial intervention until at least 2034, by deeming the documents it produces and receives presidential records.
In March, Judge Christopher R. Cooper of the Federal District Court in Washington sided with the watchdog group, finding that Mr. Musk’s team was likely in fact an agency subject to federal public records law.
In his order, Judge Cooper explained that Mr. Musk’s group had the hallmarks of an agency that would be subject to federal records laws. He wrote that the team appeared to be exercising “substantial authority over vast swathes of the federal government,” much greater than other federal agencies that are subject to the law.
Lawyers for the Trump administration appealed that decision, asking that the lawsuit be dismissed. A federal appeals court issued a pause on April 18, allowing Mr. Musk’s team, for the time being, to keep its internal documents, until the court could rule on pivotal questions, including where the group fit among other government entities.
On May 14, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ordered Mr. Musk and his team to resume efforts to hand over internal documents about their operations to the watchdog group, prompting the administration to seek Supreme Court review.
The court has requested a response by Friday at noon.
Abbie VanSickle covers the United States Supreme Court for The Times. She is a lawyer and has an extensive background in investigative reporting.
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