A federal judge on Saturday temporarily blocked Elon Musk’s controversial Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive records held by the Treasury Department, citing a risk of “irreparable harm.”
The decision came one day after New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that a multistate coalition of AGs had filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for illegally granting the president’s “unelected billionaire friend” unauthorized access to the Treasury Department’s central payment system.
According to the lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, Trump’s move would allow Musk and members of DOGE to review millions of Americans’ personal information, including tax returns, Social Security numbers and bank account details, in violation of federal law. James claims DOGE wants to use the information to cut vital services, from health care to education.
“President Trump does not have the power to give away Americans’ private information to anyone he chooses,” James said Friday. “Musk and DOGE have no authority to access Americans’ private information and some of our country’s most sensitive data.”
James was joined in the lawsuit by the Democratic AGs of 18 other states, including New Jersey, Connecticut and California.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said it was not clear what DOGE is doing with the information in the Treasury system, but called it “the largest data breach in American history.”
“DOGE is an unlawfully constituted band of renegade tech bros combing through confidential records, sensitive data and critical payment systems. What could go wrong?” he said in a statement Friday.
On Saturday, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer sided with the attorneys general, citing “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.”
Engelmayer, an Obama appointee, ordered Musk and anyone else unlawfully given access to the system since Jan. 20 to “immediately destroy any and all copies of material downloaded from the Treasury Department’s records.”
Engelmayer set a hearing for Feb. 14.
This morning, we won a court order blocking Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, from accessing Americans’ private data.
Musk and his 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. https://t.co/2lCS2FD1MT
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) February 8, 2025
Early Saturday morning, James took to the Musk-owned social media platform X to celebrate the victory.
“This morning, we won a court order blocking Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, from accessing Americans’ private data,” James wrote. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: no one is above the law.”
Earlier this week, Congressional Democratic leaders moved to bar DOGE from gaining access to the sensitive information.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his Senate counterpart, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, announced legislation Thursday aimed at stopping “unlawful meddling by DOGE or other entities in the Treasury Department’s payment system.”
“Why does Elon Musk and his minions need access to the names, Social Security numbers, addresses, birthdates and bank account information of millions of Americans?” Jeffries asked at a press conference.
The Brooklyn Democrat slammed Musk’s move as a “power grab.”
A Treasure Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday afternoon.