⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The D C Circuit considers public access to the government's federal spending decisions. Congress approves federal funding; the Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, then apportions it, setting amounts and timing for agency use. Apportionment documents and their footnotes can set binding conditions on when money is available. Congress's 2022 and 2023 appropriations laws require public posting of those documents within two business days. In March 2025, OMB took the website offline, saying publication interfered with its supervision of agency spending. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, known as CREW, and the Protect Democracy Project sued to restore the public database. Both organizations use the data to monitor federal spending. Protect Democracy had invested in its own website that reuses OMB's data, and says the shutdown impaired that investment. In July 2025, the district court held the shutdown unlawful and ordered the agency to restore the data and keep the system running. The appeal raises standing, whether the watchdogs' claimed injuries let them bring this suit, and the president's constitutional authority over disclosure. It also concerns how far the court's ongoing order may reach. Joshua Ha will begin for the government, challenging the watchdogs' standing and contending that the disclosure rules unconstitutionally burden executive decision-making.

CREW v. OMB (No. 25-5266) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, argued October 13, 2026.