It’s a strategy that some legal analysts said was meant to shield both Musk and DOGE.
“Over the last few weeks the Administration, its lawyers, Elon Musk, and individual DOGE employees have taken a bewildering variety of positions,” Walter Olson, a senior fellow for constitutional studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, said in an email. Olson said he believes the Justice Department’s stance is a strategy designed to battle the lawsuits challenging Musk’s authority.
Olson compared the strategy to a shell game, but he said he doubts it will work for long, noting that judges can take testimony under oath.
“It can put judges on their guard if they see the walnut shells of responsibility shuffled around so that the pea keeps being absent from the shell the opponent picks,” he said. “If the court process can freeze the position taken, the game can stop working after a couple of rounds.”