Yesterday, Judge Christopher Cooper entered a minute order instructing the U.S. DOGE Service to start processing records responsive to a FOIA request filed by Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington. That request is the subject of ongoing, high-profile litigation in Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington v. U.S. DOGE Service, No. 25-0511 (D.D.C.). The complete order can be found on the docket, available here.
Judge Cooper has ordered DOGE (and OMB) to process CREW’s requests “at a rate of 1000 pages per month,” which is above the now-standard 500 pages. Despite ongoing briefing concerning DOGE’s status as an “agency” under the FOIA, the district court reasoned that processing could proceed given its previous ruling that DOGE “is likely subject to FOIA,” and any other result would result in further “processing delays” down the road. Importantly, Judge Cooper noted the government need not “produce any documents,” but only process them. The Court justified accelerated processing based on its finding that the records at issue are “important” and “of the highest national concern,” especially for “ongoing public and congressional debates.” CREW also successfully argued for expedited processing in its initial motion for preliminary relief.
Interestingly, in response to the government’s arguments about the lack of any FOIA apparatus at DOGE, the court explained there is “no reason why the existing FOIA office at OMB, or those [offices] elsewhere within the Executive Office of the President, could not assist with processing[.]”
Finally, the court indicated it “might entertain a request for a higher processing rate should it be satisfied that CREW” has worked to narrow its request further, and if “production”—or, perhaps, as the Court likely intended to say, processing updates from the government—are “yielding meaningful results.”
FOIA Advisor has previously reported on updates in this case, and it will continue to do so.
