DOGE Blocked From Treasury Data After Another Lawsuit

A federal judge blocked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access to the Department of the Treasury’s payment systems. 

On Friday, Democratic attorneys general from 19 states sued President Donald Trump and the Treasury to block the department from granting access to its payments systems to DOGE. The Treasury distributes tens of millions of dollars to Americans each year in the form of federal employee wages, tax refunds, social security benefits, child tax credits and veteran’s benefits. The systems DOGE wanted access to included personal and sensitive information for the millions of people who receive funds and benefits from the Treasury.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued that their states “receive billions of dollars of in funds every year directly from Treasury through [the Bureau of Fiscal Services] under federal grant programs,” which they rely on “to provide vital services for their residents, including Medicaid (the single largest federal funding stream to the Plaintiffs), FEMA funds for disaster relief and management, Edward Byrne JAG grants essential to law enforcement and criminal justice programs, education funding, and foster care programs.”

In granting the plaintiffs request for a temporary restraining order, district court Judge Paul Engelmeyer wrote that the Trump administration’s new policy to grant DOGE access to the Treasury poses a risk “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.” 

Shortly after Engelmeyer’s order came down, DOGE head Elon Musk called for him to be impeached. “A corrupt judge protecting corruption,” Musk posted on X. “He needs to be impeached NOW!”

So far there’s been three lawsuits to block DOGE from accessing sensitive Treasury information. On Feb. 3, the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen — on behalf of the American Federation of Government Employees, the Service Employees International Union and the Alliance for Retired Americans — sued DOGE to prevent their access to the sensitive personal and financial information of millions of people from the Treasury Department.

The plaintiffs reached an agreement with the Treasury to block DOGE’s access to requested data, save for two special Treasury employees affiliated with DOGE whose “access to payment records will be ‘read only,’” meaning they won’t be able to alter any records. Shortly after the agreed upon order was signed by a judge, one of the two employees granted Treasury access resigned when past racist social media posts surfaced. But Musk indicated that he plans to bring the staffer back after Trump and Vice President JD Vance called for his rehiring.

Learn more about the Democratic attorneys general lawsuit against DOGE’s Treasury access here.