Judge extends block on Musk's DOGE from Treasury systems

(Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday extended a block on Elon Musk's government cost-cutting team known as DOGE from accessing Treasury Department systems responsible for trillions of dollars in government payments.

U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas in Manhattan granted a request from 19 Democratic state attorneys general for a preliminary injunction on DOGE's access to the systems, pending the outcome of their lawsuit.

The states cited a risk that sensitive information could be improperly disclosed, and said DOGE had no legal authority to access the systems.

Vargas said the states were likely correct, and the Treasury Department had failed to consider the serious risk of allowing access to states' banking information.

"While it appears that the career staff at (Treasury) did their best to develop what mitigation strategies they could, the inexplicable urgency and time constraints under which they operated all but ensured that the launch of the Treasury DOGE Team was chaotic and haphazard," Vargas wrote.

The White House and the Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office is leading the lawsuit, said in a statement the ruling prevents "DOGE and unauthorized, unelected, and unvetted individuals like Elon Musk from accessing people's private data and blocking federal funds."

U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, hearing the case on an emergency basis on February 8, had previously granted a shorter-lasting temporary restraining order. Vargas temporarily extended that restraining order at a court hearing last week while she considered the request for a preliminary injunction.

The states' lawsuit is one of several involving DOGE's access to Treasury systems and sensitive information maintained by other federal agencies, and the challenges have had mixed results.

Judges in Washington, D.C., last week allowed DOGE staffers to access records at health, education, labor, and consumer financial protection agencies. This week, a different Washington judge declined to immediately block DOGE from directing firings of federal workers or accessing databases.

In Friday's case, Trump administration lawyers in court filings accused the states that sued of trying to prevent Treasury officials from liaising with DOGE to improve efficiency in line with Trump's directives. They also said an injunction would violate the separation of powers under the U.S. Constitution by intruding on the executive branch's decision-making.



(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York and Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Sandra Maler)