DOGE temporaily blocked from accessing Treasury payment system

A federal judge on Friday granted an injunction requested by 19 attorneys general to prevent the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from having access to the Treasury Department’s central payment system.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas extends the pause by issuing a preliminary injunction, a legal step that blocks access to the records while the case is litigated on the merits.

In her 64-page decision, Vargas noted she was granting the preliminary injunction preventing DOGE from accessing the payment records because of the possible disclosure of the states’ bank records. However, she also said the plaintiffs “have not demonstrated that they are entitled to the broad and sweeping relief they seek, which would far exceed the scope of the present TRO (Temporary restraining order).”

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Vargas is giving Trump administration attorneys the chance to fix any defects so that the sensitive information will be protected.  

A report is due March 24. Last week, a federal judge extended a temporary order to block DOGE from accessing Treasury payment systems. 

A lawsuit filed by the 19 AGs claims DOGE illegally accessed the Treasury Department’s central payment system at the Trump administration’s behest. The payment systems have information about Americans’ Social Security, Medicare and veterans’ benefits; tax refund information; and much more. 

Lawyers for the administration argued that the temporary restraining order “causes ongoing constitutional harm to the Treasury Department’s ability to make management decisions within its lawful discretion.”  

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Defense attorneys argued that there is nothing unlawful about the Treasury Department’s actions. Treasury officials have denied violating privacy laws, saying only two members of the DOGE team had been given “read-only” access to information in the payment systems. 

The lawsuit was filed in New York by the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, a vocal Trump critic. 

It includes 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. 

“We just won a court order stopping DOGE and unauthorized, unelected, and unvetted individuals like Elon Musk from accessing people’s private data and blocking federal funds,” James wrote Friday on X. “We will keep fighting to protect all Americans from this administration’s destruction.”

The AGs argue that granting DOGE access to the payment system puts Americans’ sensitive, personal information, such as bank account details and Social Security numbers, at risk.

Fox News’ William Mears and Maria Paronich contributed to this report.