Appeals Court Blocks Court Order for DOGE Records
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/doge-elon-musk-tanya-chutkan/2025/03/26/id/1204494/
Wednesday, 26 March 2025 07:30 PM EDT
A federal appeals court in Washington has temporarily blocked an order by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan that had previously ordered Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency to turn over their records regarding efforts to drastically reduce the size of the federal government.
A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted a stay on Chutkan’s ruling on Wednesday, saying that she must first rule on the Trump administration’s motion to dismiss before allowing any discovery. Immediately after the court’s decision, Chutkan canceled a status hearing scheduled for Thursday.
On March 12, Chutkan granted a request for an expedited discovery in a lawsuit brought by Democratic-led states challenging Musk and DOGE’s authority. The states were seeking to “to identify DOGE personnel and the parameters of DOGE’s and Musk’s authority — a question central to Plaintiffs’ claims,” Chutkan wrote in her decision.
In her order, Chutkan noted that the information the coalition of states led by New Mexico is seeking “shall be limited to information and materials regarding agencies, employees, contracts, grants, federal funding, legal agreements, databases, or data management systems that involve or engage with Plaintiff States, including entities and institutions operated or funded by Plaintiff States.”
The Democratic-led states were looking to block DOGE from accessing information from the Office of Personnel Management and the departments of Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, Transportation, and Commerce.
The lawsuit had also argued that Musk is exercising power that can be granted only to a person confirmed by the Senate.
Chutkan was appointed by then-President Joe Biden and presided over President Donald Trump’Post too long. Click here to view the full text.
