At 12:02 pm in DC federal court, the American Federation of Government Employees sued President Trump and OMB over the establishment of the new Department of Government Efficiency. They were joined in the lawsuit by the Far Left organizations Public Citizen, Inc.,

and State Democracy Defenders Fund.
The plaintiffs demand that the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) comply with the requirements established by the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq.
They further claim that DOGE is not and was never intended to be a department of the United States government. Noting that congressionally established agencies such as the Department of Defense or the Department of Health and Human Services are led by federal officers who have been confirmed by the Senate under the constitutionally required process.

Mr. Trump has explained that DOGE will provide “advice and guidance from outside of Government,” “partnering with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform.”
The plaintiffs claim FACA authorizes an administration to establish and use commissions or task forces like DOGE to obtain advice and recommendations from the private sector on a variety of topics, including advice and recommendations concerning regulatory or fiscal matters. Indeed, Presidents Reagan, Clinton, and Obama each established advisory commissions in accordance with FACA to solicit advice and recommendations on spending cuts from individuals outside the government.
While FACA permits the use of advisory committees, the plaintiffs claim it imposes various “guardrails” to prevent them from turning into vehicles for advancing private interests in the federal decision-making process and secretly influencing federal officials’ exercise of policymaking discretion.
Those “guardrails” include the requirements that advisory committee have a fair balance in viewpoints represented, that they do not meet in secret, and that their records and work product be made available for public inspection. FACA also prohibits advisory committees from meeting or taking any action until a charter for the advisory committee has been filed, specifying, among other things, the nature of the committee’s work and duties and the federal official to whom the committee is responsible.
It is important to note that the plaintiffs in this lawsuit are some of the same players behind the eight years of lawfare that has been conducted against Donald Trump. And, while they claim to be defending the average government worker on the frontline of delivering government services, they are in fact hardcore Far Left Democrat political operatives.
SDDF’s Executive Chair is Norman Eisen, one of the principal figures in the anti-Trump lawfare machine. AFGE’s president Dr. Everett B. Kelley and Public Citizen’s co-presidents, Lisa Gilbert and Robert Weissman are longtime liberal activists, who have been planning this lawsuit ever since the election.
This lawsuit has been in the making since the idea was first floated. Indeed, to establish standing all three organizations sent letters to the Trump Transition demanding to be appointed to the DOGE and claiming expertise related to its mission, and all three were either denied or ignored.
And their lawsuit is entirely preemptive – DOGE has never met and has not been formally called into being by the President, so far DOGE only exists as a line in the Trump Team’s speeches or social media posts.
In the plaintiffs’ prayer for relief they set out eight requests, of which five are basically “we want DOGE to be set up and run according to FACA,” so who could object to that if DOGE in fact meets the statutory requirements?
The kicker is in the other three: First, they want attorneys’ fees to keep their lawfare organizations going and second, they want the Court to order the Trump administration to comply with the “fair-balance requirements” of FACA, and finally, to “Grant any other relief this Court deems appropriate.” Which we suspect will be an order requiring the Trump administration to give all, or at least one of them, a seat on DOGE when it is set up.
You can read the complaint through this link, and it is the first evidence (if you needed any) that the Deep State is not going to release its hold on your government without a fight to the death.
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