During his record-setting joint address to Congress, President Donald Trump continued calling Elon Musk the leader of the White House DOGE office.
"I have created the brand-new Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, perhaps you've heard of it, which is headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight," Trump said in his speech Tuesday night.
Trump's habit of saying Musk is in charge of the group has already created legal headaches for his administration, which has repeatedly said the Tesla CEO is not actually leading DOGE.
A group of plaintiffs challenging DOGE's constitutionality immediately alerted a Washington, DC, federal judge to Trump's comments almost as soon as the president finished his speech.
"At approximately 9:46 PM, President Trump stated the following in his Joint Address to Congress," the plaintiffs wrote in their filing.
The plaintiffs, who include two attorneys, quickly filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on the day Trump was sworn into office, arguing that the creation of DOGE violates the transparency requirements of the 1972 Federal Advisory Committee Act. The lawsuit declares DOGE a federal advisory committee that should be subject to the FACA law.
The law, which was designed to boost public accountability, covers advisory committees that are either formed or utilized by the president.
An amended lawsuit filed by the plaintiffs says "Musk continues to speak for DOGE and take credit for DOGE's activities, while not being" the administrator for the US DOGE Service.
DOGE was birthed out of a rebrand of the United States Digital Service — a technology unit housed in the executive office of the president.
"DOGE continues to take actions which are completely unrelated to the USDS mandate set forth" in Trump's day one executive order that formally established DOGE, the amended complaint says.
US District Judge Jia Cobb has since consolidated the case with two other similar cases.
Trump's joint address comments were cited in another court filing in a Maryland case brought against Musk and DOGE by 26 current and former USAID employees or contractors.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs on Wednesday filed a letter to the federal judge overseeing the case asking the court "to take judicial notice of these relevant admissions."
"Plaintiffs respectfully write to bring to the Court's attention additional relevant admissions made last night. Defendants consent to providing these facts to the Court," the letter read. "During his joint address to Congress, President Donald Trump twice identified Defendant Musk as DOGE's leader."
The plaintiffs' lawsuit alleges that Musk's actions in the Trump administration are "unconstitutional."
And a new lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Washington, DC, federal court against Musk and the Trump administration also cites Trump's joint address speech.
"Mr. Musk is acting as a principal officer of the United States. However, Mr. Musk has not been appointed to a position as an officer of the United States, in accordance with the Appointments Clause," says the lawsuit, which was brought by a group of nonprofits, including the Japanese American Citizens League.
Meanwhile, a top White House official previously said in federal court that Musk was neither the DOGE office administrator nor even an employee of the group. The White House has also repeatedly stressed that Musk is just a senior advisor to the president. After weeks of refusing to name DOGE's administrator publicly, the White House said that Amy Gleason, a US Digital Service employee, was the acting administrator of the DOGE office.
Multiple signs suggest that Musk remains DOGE's de facto leader, dating back to Trump's initial creation of "The Department of Government Efficiency," when he named the billionaire as its co-leader.
Just days ago, a Department of Justice lawyer struggled to answer questions from a district court judge about DOGE's structure. Anna Bower, a Lawfare editor, posted part of the exchange on X.
"Who was the head of DOGE before Amy Gleason?" Judge Theodore Chuang asked the DOJ attorney, Joshua Gardner.
"I can't answer that. I don't know," Gardner responded.
Trump is no stranger to making public statements that create headaches for the Justice Department.
During his first term, Trump's tweets were repeatedly used as evidence in various lawsuits brought against his administration.
At one point, the DOJ said that Trump's tweets were not presidential actions.
The White House didn't immediately return a request for comment from Business Insider.
