Obama-appointed Judge Tanya Chutkan on Wednesday ordered Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to disclose its plans to downsize the federal government and identify all employees in a ruling related to a lawsuit by 14 Democrat state attorneys general against it.

The lawsuit alleges that DOGE has too much power and is acting unconstitutionally, and seeks to stop the agency created by President Donald Trump from doing its work.

The ruling

According to Fox News, the ruling requires DOGE to

• Produce all DOGE and DOGE Temporary Organization planning, implementation, and operational documents concerning: (1) eliminating or reducing the size of federal agencies; (2) terminating employment of federal employees or placing such employees on leave, or (3) cancelling, freezing, or pausing federal contracts, grants, or other federal funding.
• Produce all DOGE and DOGE Temporary Organization planning, implementation, and operational documents regarding obtaining access, using, or making changes to federal databases or data management systems.
• Identify every individual serving as DOGE personnel.  For each person, identify (1) their title; (2) whether they are part of a DOGE Team at an agency, and if so, what agency; (3) all individuals to whom they directly report; and (4) who hired them.
• Produce all documents containing lists, charts, or summaries that DOGE personnel or Musk have created, compiled, or edited reflecting the planned or completed cancellation of federal contracts, grants, or other legal agreements.

DOGE has three weeks to produce the information.

"The burden to Defendants is minimized by the narrow time period for responsive materials, the exclusion of electronic communications, explicitly exempting President Trump from the requests, extending Defendants’ time to respond, and denying Plaintiffs’ request to notice depositions," Chutkan said in the ruling.

The requirements

Chutkan also said that the information required is limited to what is relevant to the states with the attorneys general who are suing DOGE.

She denied an earlier request for a temporary restraining order against DOGE that would have stopped its activity,saying that states had not shown evidence of harm to require such an order.

Chutkan presided over President Donald Trump's indictment for election subversion on January 6, 2021. It has to be killing her that he got off scot-free on that case when he was re-elected.

She has been known to give harsher sentences to other January 6 defendants, compared to other judges handling the cases.

Her bias against Trump is evident, and it is sure to spill over into this new case; the plaintiffs knew this full well and will try to use the judicial system against Trump in any way they can.