FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
On Tuesday, a coalition of civil society groups sent a letter to interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Edward R. Martin, Jr. and congressional leaders, demanding that Martin clarify public statements suggesting he would use his public office to threaten critics of Elon Musk and the new Department of Government Efficiency, and also to reaffirm his duty to uphold the First Amendment during any DOGE-related investigations.
On Sunday, a Wired report listed the names of six DOGE staffers who may be rooting through sensitive government systems and data. The following day, Musk responded to a user on the social media platform X, who also listed the staffers’ names, by saying, “You have committed a crime.” The user was suspended from the platform, which is owned by Musk. That same day, Martin tweeted a letter asking Musk to “utilize” him and his staff to protect DOGE and promising to pursue legal action against anyone who impedes the agency’s work.
“There‘s nothing more central to the First Amendment than the press and public‘s right to criticize those carrying out controversial government work, harshly and by name,” said Seth Stern, director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF). “A sitting U.S. attorney threatening to prosecute this constitutionally protected conduct is highly alarming — even un-American. So are his threats against those who may protest DOGE. If Martin does not understand why such threats are so problematic, he should not be serving in such an important position in our government. He should clarify that he did not intend to threaten to prosecute people who named DOGE employees and that, going forward, he will not assert dubious legal positions to curry favor with Musk or President Trump.”
“It would be deeply alarming for Martin to turn the office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia into a DOGE defense squad,” said Emily Peterson-Cassin, corporate power director at Demand Progress Education Fund. “A public servant should not abdicate their First Amendment duties and use their office to target and intimidate journalists and peaceful protesters at the behest of the world’s richest man. Martin has already shown willingness to retaliate against public servants by firing January 6th prosecutors, so we need straight answers. Does Ed Martin follow the Constitution or Elon Musk?”
The groups’ letter reminds Martin that it is not a crime to identify or criticize individuals openly conducting government work. The letter also demands that Martin specifically identify the kinds of “targeting” of DOGE staff he was referring to in his letter to Musk, commit to not go after journalists and others who legally identify and discuss government workers by name, and also acknowledge that criticisms of DOGE and peaceful protests of the agency are protected by the First Amendment.
The letter was spearheaded by Demand Progress Education Fund and FPF, and has been signed by more than thirty groups.
You can read the letter here or below. Please contact FPF or Demand Progress if you'd like further comment.
