DOGE fight to block CREW from accessing records heads to Supreme Court: Everything we know

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is heading back to the US Supreme Court as the Trump administration tries to stop a watchdog from gaining access to its internal records.

The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to take up the case involving Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, which has been seeking records related to DOGE’s role in reshaping the federal government during the early months of President Donald Trump’s second term.

At the centre of the dispute is a simple question: Should DOGE be treated like a federal agency? CREW says yes, which would mean the department is subject to the Freedom of Information Act and could be required to release records requested by the public.

The Trump administration, however, argues that DOGE operates as a presidential advisory body and is therefore outside the reach of the transparency law.

The case has already reached the Supreme Court once. In June 2025, the court’s conservative majority said a lower court had gone too far in ordering the government to turn over DOGE-related documents.

But the legal battle continued, with US District Judge Christopher Cooper later ruling in CREW’s favour. An appeals court also sided with the watchdog. The lower court proceedings even allowed CREW to seek a sworn deposition from DOGE acting administrator Amy Gleason, something the Justice Department has strongly opposed.

The administration says forcing presidential advisers to hand over records or sit for questioning could interfere with the confidentiality needed inside the White House.

CREW argues that DOGE exercised enough independent power across government agencies that the public should be able to see how its decisions were made. The Supreme Court will now have another chance to decide how far DOGE’s secrecy protections actually extend.