A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to disclose staff identities Monday in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a liberal watchdog group.
The decision, issued by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, sharply contrasts a September ruling from the same court denying a nearly identical FOIA request by the conservative group, Power the Future (PTF), which sought staff information related to former Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC) John Kerry. The conflicting ruling prompted criticism of an alleged double standard in judicial decisions based on the political affiliations of the requesting organizations.
“We fought for a year to get those [Department of State employee] names and the SPEC names and finally got all but two of them. Even those two, after a year of fighting, we couldn’t get,” Matthew Hardin, an attorney representing PTF for its FOIA request, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “But you can walk into court and say, ‘I want the names of everybody at DOGE,’ and not only do you get them, but he was ordered to process them on an expedited basis.”
Cooper ruled that DOGE, the federal cost-cutting initiative established by President Donald Trump and led by Elon Musk, must release staff records due to its “unusual” level of secrecy and significant role in federal government operations. In contrast, the earlier case involving Kerry’s climate office was rejected by U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes — another Washington, D.C., District Court judge — citing privacy concerns and potential interference with government operations.
Hardin emphasized the stark difference between the two cases, noting that one judge at the court granted CREW’s request swiftly, ordering the release of the names within a week, while PTF faced a prolonged and ultimately unsuccessful process.
The PTF lawsuit specifically sought names and roles of staff members within Kerry’s climate envoy office, which former President Joe Biden created in 2021 after he appointed Kerry as the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate — a position tasked with shaping U.S. climate policy and international climate negotiations. While Kerry’s staff salaries totaled $4.3 million, with all but one employee earning six figures, according to the Boston Herald, reports on DOGE staff salaries remain inconsistent.
During his tenure, Kerry pledged $100 billion in climate aid to developing nations and spearheaded negotiations with China, despite the fact that the nation continued expansion of coal plants and has emitted more carbon than any country by far. Kerry also helped establish an agreement to begin a reduction in fossil fuel use in the U.S., though critics pointed out that the agreement lacked an enforcement mechanism to compel compliance, specifically from nations like China.
During courtroom arguments, government attorneys insisted that releasing the names of Kerry’s staff would jeopardize the their privacy and possibly expose them to harassment.
“The higher ranked somebody is, the more value their name is, and the more diminished their privacy interest is,” Hardin argued during court proceedings.
The court rejected this reasoning, siding instead with government claims regarding privacy and potential threats to staff.
“We’re working in very weird times where, you know, people get attacked. People get physically attacked and threatened in massive, destructive ways because of the work they do — which isn’t in any way potentially politicized … I just think that we’re living in a very unique time and space in terms of people’s privacy interests,” U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said in response.
Hardin highlighted broader concerns regarding the increasing invocation of privacy exemptions by government agencies. He pointed out that in recent years, the use of Exemption 6 — which protects personal and personnel files — has significantly expanded beyond its intended purpose of safeguarding sensitive personal details such as medical and vacation records.
“The government has been using [Exemption] 6, which is the privacy exemption, a lot more often in recent years than they used to, and I think it’s being overused … I’ve seen this at State, EPA, Department of Energy. I mean, it’s been a growing trend all across government,” Hardin said. “And if you read the statute, what is says under Exemption 6 is that personnel files are exempt … But it does not say names are exempt. The government, to me, is stretching the statute to say, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, even names are exempt.’”
The swift disclosure of DOGE staffers‘ identities ordered in the CREW case underscores the stark inconsistency Hardin identifies. The contrasting judicial outcomes between CREW’s DOGE case and PTF’s SPEC office case exemplify a troubling trend where transparency appears selectively applied based on ideological alignment rather than a consistent legal interpretation of FOIA exemptions, according to Hardin.
“Just look at the [Office of Personnel Management] regulations that require names to be made public,” Hardin continued. “So there is a definite double standard there.”
Hardin referenced 5 CFR § 293.311, which states that federal employees’ names, titles, salaries and duty stations are generally considered public information and are not protected from disclosure under privacy exemptions.
The State Department did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment on whether it would voluntarily release the staff information Hardin and PTF requested.
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