A judge yesterday chided the Federal Communications Commission for its "vague and uninformative" response to a DOGE-related lawsuit and ordered the commission to produce documents sought under the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA).
The FCC was sued by journalist Nina Burleigh and Frequency Forward, a group that says it is investigating how Elon Musk's influence in government "is creating unmanageable conflicts of interest within the FCC." Burleigh and Frequency Forward alleged in an April 24 complaint that the FCC violated the Freedom of Information Act by wrongfully withholding records on DOGE's activities within the agency.
The plaintiffs filed a motion for preliminary injunction this week and received a quick ruling from US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in the District of Columbia. Jackson denied the preliminary injunction request but ordered the FCC to "make ongoing productions of responsive documents on September 15, 2025 and October 6, 2025," and to "file a status report proposing a schedule for the completion of its production of documents to plaintiff by October 13, 2025."
Jackson, an Obama appointee, said the 35 pages of semi-redacted emails provided by the FCC aren't enough. She also criticized the FCC's July 23 status report that claimed it was "too early to predict" when the agency would be able to fully comply with the FoIA request.
Burleigh and Frequency Forward did not meet the legal requirements for a preliminary injunction, but "plaintiffs' consternation with the course of events since the lawsuit was filed is not wholly misplaced," Jackson wrote, continuing:
On July 2, 2025, the Court ordered that defendant "must file a dispositive motion or, in the alternative, a report setting forth the schedule for the completion of its production of documents to plaintiff, on or before July 23, 2025." However, defendant's July 23, 2025 status report provided no timeline, and it was vague and uninformative. Further, the anticipated "initial production" defendant referred to [in] that filing, amounted to only 35 pages.
FCC “on a very short leash”
Frequency Forward counsel Art Belendiuk said in a statement provided to Ars, "The judge's order shows that she took our motion seriously and agrees that the FCC is dragging its feet in producing documents. This order puts the commission on a very short leash, and we're hopeful they will now comply and produce the documents promptly, as required by the court."