Plaintiffs asked for expedited discovery to help speed up their case.
A Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) worker and three other federal officials must sit down and answer questions under oath in a legal case, a federal judge ruled on Feb. 27.
The four depositions will seek information that is essential to deciding on a motion for preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge John Bates said in a 16-page order.
“To help ensure the depositions are limited to the proper topics, and to help decrease the burden on defendants, the Court will limit plaintiffs to a total of eight hours for their four depositions,” Bates wrote.
The depositions must be completed no later than March 24.
It’s not clear which DOGE employee will be questioned.
Bates granted a motion filed by unions, including the AFL-CIO. Plaintiffs requested the expedited discovery because, they said, there have been conflicting answers on matters pertaining to DOGE, including its structure.
Government lawyers had urged the judge to reject the motion, arguing that the plaintiffs’ motion “seeks to leapfrog the normal course of litigation … to gather extensive discovery before the Court has had an opportunity to adjudicate whether it has jurisdiction to hear this dispute.”
This is a developing story that will be updated.