Trump administration sued four times just minutes after inauguration over Elon Musk’s DOGE

The Trump administration is just two days old and has already been hit with with at least four lawsuits over Elon Musk's new occupation.

Titled the Department of Government Efficiency - or DOGE for short much like that meme of the dog which has now died and also got turned into a cryptocurrency - it's supposed to be helping the new Trump administration find places to cut government spending.

Elon Musk, who on Trump's inauguration day twice made a very distinctive gesture where he held his right arm up in the air to a crowd, had previously claimed that he could cut about $2 trillion in spending from the US government budget.

However, he later revised that projection down to $1 trillion in budget cuts suggesting that by aiming for two you could probably get one.

For reference, between October 2023 and September 2024 the US federal government spent about $6.75 trillion.

Elon Musk is supposed to be heading up the Department of Government Efficiency (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Musk was earmarked to run DOGE alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, who has quit the department just hours after Trump took office to leave the Tesla boss in overall control of it.

Meanwhile, the new department has already been the subject of a number of lawsuits.

The Washington Post reports that DOGE was sued mere minutes after Trump's inauguration by law firm National Security Counselors, which claims that the department meets the standard to be classed as a 'federal advisory committee' and thus has a legal responsibility to take certain steps which are meant to ensure it provides the government with balanced advice that is transparent.

A second lawsuit filed by the groups Public Citizen, State Democracy Defenders Fund and the American Federation of Government Employees alleges much the same, while a third lawsuit from the groups Democracy Forward, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington also has the same argument that DOGE is going to be providing advice to the government and thus must be bound by the rules of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).

The second Trump administration has only just started and there have already been several lawsuits (Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images)

These three lawsuits may be complicated by an executive order from Trump declaring that DOGE is operating 'within' the US government, meaning it would not be a federal advisory committee and thus not subject to FACA.

Meanwhile, a fourth lawsuit from the Center for Biological Diversity is also targeted at DOGE but is not picking up the group over its status.

Instead, this fourth lawsuit is seeking public records on how individuals who have claimed to represent DOGE 'have interacted with the White House since the presidential transition began in November'.

LADbible has contacted the Trump administration for comment.

All the executive orders Donald Trump has signed so far

Policy recognising only 'two genders'

The president signed an order which will make it an official policy that there are only 'two genders'.

The policy reads: "Agencies will cease pretending that men can be women and women can be men when enforcing laws that protect against sex discrimination.

"These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality."

The order will also bring to an end 'wasteful' government programmes which promote diversity and inclusivity, as well as 'defending women from gender ideology extremism'.

Free speech

The president accused the previous administration of 'trampling free speech rights by censoring Americans’ speech' and vowed to restore freedom of speech.

The order states it will 'ensure that no Federal Government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen' and will 'end censorship of protected speech'.

Leaving the World Health Organisation

The president accused the organisation of fumbling the COVID-19 pandemic and said the US would no longer be 'ripped off' by it.

While signing a document to have the US leave the health agency, Trump said: "World Health ripped us off, everybody rips off the United States. It’s not going to happen anymore.”

TikTok ban

As expected, Trump signed an executive order which hits pause on the US' ban of the popular app, allowing time for an 'appropriate course forward'.

“I guess I have a warm spot for TikTok that I didn’t have originally,” he said.

January 6 pardons

Trump's loss in the 2020 election led to the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in turn resulting in the arrests of a number of Trump supporters.

And as anticipated, the president has wasted no time in issuing pardons for offenders. Trump said he's pardoned around 1,500 people and issued six commutations.

Immigration

Trump has issued a slew of immigration-related policies during his first day back in the White House as he declared illegal immigration at the US-Mexico border a national emergency.

Trump has already gotten started on reversing several Biden-era immigration orders and has plans to send US troops to help immigration agents and restrict refugees.

The president has also got the wheels in motion to prevent children of immigrants in the US illegally from having citizenship.

Speaking at his inauguration, he said: "All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came."

Restoring the death penalty

Calling capital punishment an 'essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes', Trump signed an order which will ensure states have enough lethal injection drugs for executions.

"The Attorney General shall pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use," the order says.

Renaming the Gulf of Mexico

Following through on his promise during a press conference earlier this month, Trump has now ordered the Gulf of Mexico to be called the Gulf of America.

"President Trump is bringing common sense to government and renewing the pillars of American Civilization,” the executive order said.

Despite the order, it won't change how it is named globally.

Energy policy

Trump has vowed to 'unleash American energy', promising to export US energy globally as he signed the order amid what he describes as a 'national energy emergency'.

"America is blessed with an abundance of energy and natural resources that have historically powered our Nation’s economic prosperity. In recent years, burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations have impeded the development of these resources, limited the generation of reliable and affordable electricity, reduced job creation, and inflicted high energy costs upon our citizens," the order states.

The order will also reverse Biden's ban on drilling in Alaska as Trump declared America 'will be a rich nation again'.

Cost of living

In the order, Trump vowed to issue 'emergency price relief' to Americans aimed at lowering housing prices and availability and creating 'employment opportunities for American workers'.

Trump will also 'eliminate harmful, coercive “climate” policies that increase the costs of food and fuel'.

Drug cartels

Trump has said drug cartels will now be classified as terrorist organisations.

"International cartels constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organised crime," the orders says.

Federal workers

Federal employees have now been classified as political hires - a move which in theory would make them easier to fire.

Trump also declared a federal hiring freeze which will reduce the size of federal government.