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NY AG James claims win after judge blocks Elon Musk's DOGE from sensitive Treasury data
By
Jon Campbell
Published Feb 7, 2025
Modified Feb 8, 2025
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Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
By
Jon Campbell
Published Feb 7, 2025
Modified Feb 8, 2025
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A federal judge in Manhattan has temporarily blocked Elon Musk’s associates from accessing the U.S. Treasury Department’s payment system, following a multi-state legal challenge, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
James and 18 other Democratic state attorneys general sued President Donald Trump and the Treasury on Friday, arguing that the Musk-led entity known as the Department of Government Efficiency’s access to the sensitive Treasury system violates several federal laws and “poses huge cybersecurity risks.”
By Saturday morning, Musk's efforts had been put on ice.
"This morning, we won a court order blocking Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, from accessing Americans’ private data," James announced on X, the social media company owned by Musk. "DOGE employees must destroy all records they've obtained. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: no one is above the law."
At issue is DOGE’s ability to view and potentially change payment files in the Treasury’s Bureau of Fiscal Services, the system used to disburse funds from a wide variety of federal agencies — including Social Security benefits and federal tax refunds.
Judge Paul Engelmayer of the U.S. District for the Southern District of New York wrote in his decision that the states will face "irreparable harm" from Musk's efforts "because of the risk that the new policy presents of the disclosure of sensitive and confidential information and the heightened risk that
the systems in question will be more vulnerable than before to hacking."
The judge also said "the States have shown a likelihood of success on the merits of their claims, with the States’ statutory claims presenting as
particularly strong."
DOGE, which Trump has tasked with reducing government spending, gained access late last week to the payment system that includes millions of Americans’ personal information, according to the New York Times.
James filed the lawsuit a day after a federal judge in Washington, D.C. limited DOGE’s access to the file to two people with “read only” privileges, meaning its employees can view the systems but don’t have the ability to make changes. That ruling came as part of a separate lawsuit filed by labor unions.
The Democratic attorneys general asked a federal judge in Manhattan to grant a temporary restraining order prohibiting Trump’s administration from granting DOGE or any other appointee or special government employee entry into the system outside the Treasury employees who usually have access.
The states argue the Trump administration is exceeding its statutory authority by letting government employees from outside the Treasury view the records. Among other things, they claim Trump and the Treasury failed to conduct a “privacy impact assessment” before granting DOGE’s access.
On Friday, a reporter asked Trump about criticism of DOGE from Democrats who call it an “unlawful power grab.” The reporter asked Trump if there’s “anything you’ve told Elon Musk he cannot touch.”
“Well, we haven’t discussed that much,” Trump said. “I’ll tell them to go here, go there. He does it. He’s got a very capable group of people. Very, very, very, very capable.”
Lawyers for the Trump administration are due to appear in court again on February 14.
This is a developing story and has been updated with new information.
Tagged
Politics
new york state
donald trump
letitia james
Jon Campbell
Jon Campbell covers the New York State Capitol for WNYC and Gothamist. Prior to that, he covered the Capitol for more than a decade for the USA TODAY Network. He has twice earned the Walter T. Brown Memorial Award, an honor given annually by the Legislative Correspondents Association alumni for outstanding state government coverage. Jon grew up in the Buffalo area and graduated from the University at Albany. Got a tip? Email Jon at [email protected] or Signal at JonCampbellNY.90.
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