Union scores early victory in fight with DOGE as judge orders discovery

One of the largest unions in the United States scored an early victory in its lawsuit against tech billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency task force — with a couple of caveats.

Senior U.S. District Judge John Bates of the District of Columbia ordered discovery to proceed against DOGE in AFL-CIO v. Department of Labor, a case seeking to limit the task force's access to major government data systems, according to Lawfare senior editor Roger Parloff.

The discovery, he noted, includes identifying “any individual(s) within DOGE or the Executive Office of the President who exercises authority over govt-wide DOGE operations.”

However, Bates limited the scope of the discovery in two ways.

ALSO READ: 'Gotta be kidding': Jim Jordan scrambles as he's confronted over Musk 'double standard'

"The case before Bates involves DOGE’s entry into the data systems of Dept of Labor, HHS & CFPB," wrote Parloff. "Bates allows discovery relating to systems containing personal info, but not business info, because the latter isn’t protected by the Privacy Act. He also disallows an 'overbroad' request for a list of all the agencies that DOGE employees who entered the 3 agencies at issue have also been detailed to."

Parloff argues this limitation in particular is unfortunate, because that information is "relevant to whether they are really agency 'employees.'"

DOGE's mission is to identify waste and fraud that can be eliminated for savings to the federal government but has been criticized for claiming a number of false or misrepresented savings. It faces numerous lawsuits around the country, with some targeting the summary terminations of employees, and others trying to block intrusive access to government systems containing millions of people's personal information.

Even some Republicans have spoken out in concern over DOGE's zealous dismantling of several crucial government systems — with many asking for their states and constituents to be exempted in various ways.