President Donald Trump speaks as Elon Musk listens in the Oval Office at the White House. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Bates had earlier refused to block DOGE access entirely.
Bates limited the depositions to eight hours, but no specific timeline was announced. Names of those who will be asked to testify were not revealed.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel And Convention Center Feb. 20 in Oxon Hill, Md. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
"It would be strange to permit defendants to submit evidence that addresses critical factual issues and proceed to rule on a preliminary injunction motion without permitting plaintiffs to explore those factual issues through very limited discovery," the judge wrote.
Bates’ order also permits a limited set of written questions to be submitted to the agencies targeted by the lawsuit.
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Louis Casiano is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to louis.casiano@fox.com.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/judge-orders-trump-officials-sit-depositions-lawsuit-doge-access-federal-databases