The Department of Government Efficiency is in a state of flux thanks to a recent court filing by the Trump administration stating that billionaire Elon Musk, the man personally named by President Donald Trump as being in charge of DOGE, is not running the advisory body at all. And whether Musk is officially in charge or not could affect DOGE’s authority.
DOGE has spent the past few weeks hacking its way through the inner workings of the federal government, firing thousands of public servants. Given Trump and Musk’s many public statements about the latter’s role at DOGE, this new court filing has thrown the entire operation into uncertainty.
Despite Trump’s previous claim that Musk “will lead the Department of Government Efficiency” alongside since-departed co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy, the president’s day-one executive order establishing the group “did not say who its ‘administrator’ would be,” said The New York Times. Nevertheless, Trump “often” refers to Musk as the “functional leader of the DOGE effort” — an ambiguity that deepened with White House official Joshua Fisher’s court filing this week, which stated plainly that Musk was simply a White House “adviser” and “not the U.S. DOGE service administrator” or even “an employee of the U.S. DOGE service.” Instead, the White House’s position is that Musk “can only advise the president and communicate the president’s directives” to their intended recipients, Reuters said.
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The “mystery” surrounding DOGE’s structure and ambiguous leadership “does not appear limited to members of the public” said ABC News. Trump administration officials have “similarly struggled with the question in court.”
The White House’s claims that “legally, on paper” Musk is not in charge of DOGE are likely to “shield Musk from ethics and court scrutiny,” said Vox. They also place his role on “firmer legal footing” by framing his participation in the context of the president “running the executive branch — through Musk, his instrument.” This may be true in the strictest, most literal sense, but is “quite misleading in practice.” While “technically” Musk can only advise the various DOGE teams established as employees of their respective government agencies and departments, “practically, his advice is not really optional.”
Sussing out Musk’s “exact role” within the DOGE effort “could be key in the legal fight” over the group’s activities, said The Associated Press. Framing Musk as a mere adviser can be used to push back against criticism that he has “too much power for someone who isn’t elected or Senate-confirmed.” The filing creates “legal insulation” for Musk, agreed former Deputy Attorney General John Yoo at Fortune. As an adviser without any ability to enact policy on his own, “Musk cannot be sued for DOGE activities,” and any subsequent suits would “really be against the president or the United States government” instead.
What next?
The true as-of-yet unstated DOGE administrator could “conceivably” be Musk’s longtime “right-hand man” Steve Davis, said the Times. Alternately, it could be Brad Smith, who served in the first Trump administration and who has been “intimately involved in DOGE’s moves.” Whoever the administrator is, they have until early October to “submit a report to the president regarding implementation” of various DOGE initiatives and objectives detailed in an executive order issued on Feb. 11.
Ultimately, though, the “issue is not who is ‘technically’ the administrator, who has the title,” Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said to CNN. “Elon Musk is clearly running the show.”
