EMERGENCY DOCKET

Trump asks high court to pause another suit against DOGE

By Amy Howeon May 21, 2025

The court is now considering two separate emergency applications in lawsuits against DOGE. (Aashish

The Trump administration came to the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning, once again asking the justices to take action on their emergency docket.U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged the court to temporarily pause an order by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that would require the Department of Government Efficiency to provide information in a lawsuit filed under the Freedom of Information Act. Sauer told the justices that requiringDOGE as a “presidential advisory body” to respond to the plaintiffs’ requests, a process known as discovery, “clearly violates the separation of powers” and “will significantly distract” from DOGE’s “mission of identifying and eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse in the federal government.”

Chief Justice John Roberts instructed CREW to file a response to the government’s request by noon on Friday, May 23.

President Donald Trump created DOGE on Jan. 20 to “further the President’s agenda by ‘modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.’”DOGE is not a cabinet-level departmentbut has had sweeping involvement in the president’s efforts to shrink the federal government across agencies since he took office.

The Trump administration’s request on Wednesday stems from a Jan. 24 request made under FOIA by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a government watchdog group.CREW sought, among other things, communications between the DOGE administrator, Amy Gleason, and DOGE staff, as well as financial disclosures submitted by DOGE personnel.

On Feb. 20, CREW filed a lawsuit under FOIA in federal court in Washington, D.C. It sought documents that, according to CREW, it wanted before Congress passed a bill to fund the federal government.

As the case comes to the court on Wednesday, it centers on CREW’s request for expedited discovery to determine whether DOGE is an “agency” that must comply with FOIA. CREW asked to depose Gleason as well as for a list of government contracts and grants that DOGE recommended be canceled, a list of employees and positions that DOGE recommended be terminated, and a list of current and former DOGE employees.

U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper largely granted CREW’s request, including the request to depose Gleason, and instructed DOGE to respond quickly.

In an order on May 14, the U.S.Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declined to pause Cooper’s order, calling the discovery order “narrow” and “modest.”

Sauer came to the Supreme Court one week later, asking the justices to intervene. He told them that Cooper had “granted expedited, intrusive discovery into a presidential advisory body to address whether that advisory body is exempt from FOIA.” Such an order, he emphasized, gives CREW “a significant part of the information it would obtain were it to prevail on the merits of its FOIA arguments,” andit “offends the separation of powers by compromising the ‘necessity’ for confidentiality that allows presidential advisors to provide ‘candid, objective’ advice and communication.”

The justices are already considering another emergency appeal involving DOGE: On May 2, the Trump administration asked the justices topause an order by a federal judge in Baltimore that temporarily restricts DOGE team members from accessing the records of the Social Security Administration, access which challengers argue could expose the personal data of millions of Americans. The court has not yet acted on that appeal.

https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/05/trump-asks-high-court-to-pause-another-suit-against-doge/

Posted in Emergency appeals and applications, Featured

Cases: U.S. Doge Service v. Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

Recommended Citation: Amy Howe, Trump asks high court to pause another suit against DOGE , SCOTUSblog (May. 21, 2025, 12:07 PM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/05/trump-asks-high-court-to-pause-another-suit-against-doge/

Tallahassee Democrat

Report: Tallahassee prosecutor now looking into $10M tied to Casey DeSantis charity

Gray Rohrer and Jim Little, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida Tue, May 20, 2025 at 3:20 PM1/2

Tallahassee-area State Attorney Jack Campbell reportedly has opened aninvestigation into the $10 million from a Medicaid settlement given to a charity connected to First Lady Casey DeSantisthat made its way into the coffers of a political committee. And Gov. Ron DeSantis isn’t happy about it.

“Based on what?” DeSantis said May 20 when a reporter asked about the probe, which was first reported by the Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau. “Everything that’s been thrown at (Hope Florida) is pure politics,” DeSantis said. “I believe in this program deeply and stand by it 100%.”

Campbell, a Democrat who first took office in 2017, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Last month he told the USA TODAY NETWORK - FLORIDA he wasn’t investigating the Hope Florida payment. "As for (an) investigation, the only source of information I have received is from members of the press," Campbell said in an email. "The Florida Legislature has many good lawyers including some former prosecutors. I am sure they would refer any evidence of crimes to me if they found them.”

In a recent response to a request by the Herald/Times for Hope Florida Foundation-related records, however, the records custodian for Campbellsaid the information couldn’t be released because it was “part of an open, on-going investigation.”

As state attorney for the 2nd Judicial Circuit, he is the capital region's top elected law enforcement official, responsible for prosecuting crime in six counties: Franklin, Gadsden, Jefferson, Liberty, Wakulla and Leon, which includes Tallahassee.

News of the investigation came as DeSantis had finished lauding the Hope Florida program at an event in Tampa, highlighting its work to connect low-income Floridians with social services provided by nonprofits, including churches. As the brainchild of Casey DeSantis,Hope Florida began in 2021, using state employees in several agencies as “Hope navigators” to get those in need in touch with non-governmental entities to provide support.

But an inquiry led by House Republicansdiscovered a $10 million payment to the Hope Florida Foundation, a charity set up in2023to raise money for the program,was passed through other nonprofits before ending up in a political committee. The payment was part of a settlement between Centene, a provider under the state’s Medicaid Managed Care program, and the state.

Under the settlement, which was brought by overpayments made to Centene, the state received $57 million and the Hope Florida Foundation received a $10 million “donation.” (How does a state overpay for $67 million dollars)

State Attorney Jack Campbell took questions from reporters on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, about the surprise continuance that came two days earlier in the trial of Donna Adelson, who's accused of helping orchestrate the 2014 murder of law professor Dan Markel.

Days later, the Hope Florida Foundation gave two $5 million grants to two nonprofits.Those nonprofits then gave $8.5 million to Keep Florida Clean, a political committee.

That committee was run by James Uthmeier, who in October 2024 – when the payment was made – was DeSantis’ chief of staff and is now Florida's attorney general. The committee used the money to oppose Amendment 3 on the November ballot, which would have legalized recreational marijuana.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/report-tallahassee-prosecutor-now-looking-192043244.html

>>23065559

2/2

"We aren't aware of and haven't received any inquiries from the state attorney," Jeremy Redfern, a spokesman for Uthmeier, stated in a post on X. "Looks like more lawfare driven by the fake news media and those politically motivated to hurt Gov. Ron DeSantis."

House Health Care Budget Subcommittee Chair Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, led the initial probe into the payment.He has previously said he thinks a crime was committed but it wasn’t his responsibility to conduct a criminal investigation or charge anyone.

Casey DeSantis is still considering running for governor in 2026 to succeed her term-limited husband, but a criminal probe into her signature initiative – even though Andrade and no one investigating the payment has suggested she was involved with any criminal activity –could complicate her entry into the race.

"This is not about politics. This is about doing good on behalf of the people who deserve a chance for someone to fight for them," Casey DeSantis said of Hope Florida during the event. Amid published reports that she may be reconsidering a run, the first lady also told the crowd she's in no hurry to make a decision:

“I've got to save the Free State, but we literally just went through an election cycle, right? We’re 100 days into the presidency. And you talk to a lot of people around the state, and they are so tired of politics.”

As for Andrade, he told the USA TODAY Network – Florida, "I’m not in a position to comment on what law enforcement is or isn’t doing.I’m convinced that crimes occurredand I believe those engaged in public corruption should face justice. Whether they ever face justice is up to law enforcement."

He confirmed that he turned over documentshis committee gathered to the State Attorney's Office and the U.S. Department of Justice.

"I spoke with the DOJ, and I wouldn't expect them to talk to me about it ever again (because) I told them everything I knew," he said. "Turned over every document to them, and that was it."

"From my perspective, I'm confident that a crime occurred, public corruption occurred," he added, "and that James Uthmeier committed money laundering and wire fraud. I'm confident enough to say that publicly …."

Uthmeier has said previously that he wasn't involved in settlement negotiations related to the Hope Florida contribution "and looking at it, everything looks legal." Andrade says the matter is out of his hands.

"It's always premature to overreact to an investigation because one result of an investigation is that no criminal charges are brought. So when I stopped having hearings, I sent everything I had over to the State Attorney's Office and the Department of Justice, and after that, as far as collecting new evidence, it's pretty much up to them."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/report-tallahassee-prosecutor-now-looking-192043244.html

Sounds like a lot of the lawmakers and law enforcement are afraid of the DeSantis’s. This doesn’t sound like the only thing they did while he was Governor.