In his order, Judge Christopher Cooper of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote that the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Musk, had all the hallmarks of an agency that would typically be subject to laws like the Freedom of Information Act. He said Musk’s team appeared to be exercising “substantial authority over vast swaths of the federal government,” much greater than other federal agencies that are subject to the law.

Cooper required Musk’s team and the Office of Management and Budget to turn over email correspondence between their offices that the group suing had requested, and to “begin producing documents on a rolling basis as soon as practicable.”