A federal judge issued a temporary injunction preventing Elon Musk’s DOGE from obtaining Treasury Department records that contain sensitive personal data, including Social Security numbers, according to Inner City Press.
The ruling responds to a lawsuit filed yesterday in New York’s Southern District Court. The legal action claims that the administration overstepped its authority, violated the US Administrative Procedures Act, and breached the Constitution’s separation of powers principle when it granted DOGE access to the Treasury’s federal payments system.
In his order, District Judge Paul A. Engelmeyer barred the Trump administration from allowing political appointees, special government employees, and employees detailed from agencies outside the Treasury to access any Treasury payment records, payment systems, or other data repositories holding confidential financial information and personally identifiable data about payees.
Judge Engelmeyer further mandated that any copies of materials downloaded from these records and systems since January 20, 2025, must be immediately destroyed. A follow-up hearing on the matter is scheduled for February 14.
In a press release announcing the lawsuit on Friday, New York Attorney General Letitia James stated, “President Trump does not have the power to give away Americans’ private information to anyone he chooses, and he cannot cut federal payments approved by Congress. Musk and DOGE have no authority to access Americans’ private information and some of our country’s most sensitive data.”
Joining New York in this legal challenge are Attorneys General from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
This lawsuit is just one of several actions taken against Trump’s administration since his tenure began. Notably, another suit concerning DOGE’s access to Treasury records was filed on February 3, and federal judges have also blocked Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship—one of which labeled the order “blatantly unconstitutional.”
