Judge gives Trump permission to keep DOGE documents beyond FOIA's reach by using Presidential Records Act
Source: Law & Crime
Jun 18th, 2025, 1:30 pm
The Trump administration secured a victory on Wednesday as a court in Washington, D.C. allowed the government to keep highly sought-after documents beyond the reach of open records laws. In a 14-page memorandum opinion, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, though often a thorn in the government's side as of late, rejected an effort to subject the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to duplicative record-keeping requirements.
In February, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), a nonprofit, nonpartisan government watchdog, sued President Donald Trump and DOGE over a policy purporting to keep the advisory group's records beyond the reach of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The 19-page complaint challenged DOGE's records being stored as non-agency records under the Presidential Records Act (PRA).
In late March, the plaintiffs moved for injunctive relief, warning about the possibility of "irretrievable removal, loss, or destruction of DOGE records during the pendency of this case." The judge tidily rejected those concerns. "[T]he Court ultimately concludes that POGO cannot show that its claimed injury, which turns solely on the risk of document destruction, is 'certain and great,' 'actual and not theoretical,' and 'of such imminence that there is a clear and present need for equitable relief.'"
In the underlying case, the plaintiffs argue the PRA is not the appropriate record-keeping statute for DOGE. Rather, they say DOGE should be subject to the Federal Records Act (FRA). This is because, in the broader sense, POGO also claims DOGE is actually an agency subject to the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
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Full headline: 'Does not stick the landing': Judge gives Trump permission to keep DOGE documents beyond FOIA's reach by using Presidential Records Act
Link to RULING (PDF viewer) - https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25979131-pogo-v-trump-opinion/
Link to RULING (PDF) - https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25979131/pogo-v-trump-opinion.pdf
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