Elon Musk in Los Angeles in 2024Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File
A federal judge on Saturday temporarily blocked Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from looking at the Treasury Department’s payment and data systems, citing a risk of “irreparable harm” because the systems contain some of the federal government’s most sensitive information, including bank account details.
In an emergency order, US District Judge Paul Engelmayer instructed Musk and his team to “destroy any and all copies of material” downloaded from the Treasury systems after the Trump administration gave them access last weekend. Musk was not elected, and DOGE is now staffed by many young male software engineers; the judge said they could put the Treasury data at risk of hacking and leaks.
“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,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Engelmayer’s order came after New York Attorney General Letitia James and 18 other attorneys general sued the Trump administration on Friday. They argued President Donald Trump violated the Constitution and “failed to faithfully execute the laws enacted by Congress” when he gave Musk’s team “virtually unfettered access” to the Treasury data and payment systems, which are used to disburse Social Security benefits, veterans’ benefits, and federal employee wages—which means they contain personal information for millions of Americans.
The “world’s richest man has been stopped from stealing your data,” New Jersey’s attorney general, Matthew Platkin, said in a social media post Saturday. New York’s James added in a statement that “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.”
On Thursday, responding to the threat of the lawsuit, the Trump administration said Musk and his team had not violated the law by combing through Treasury information. “Slashing waste, fraud and abuse, and becoming better stewards of the American taxpayer’s hard-earned dollars might be a crime to Democrats, but it’s not a crime in a court of law,” said Harrison Fields, a Trump spokesperson.
It remains to be seen whether Trump, who has a history of ignoring court orders and the Constitution, respects the judge’s temporary injunction in this case. “If the administration fails to comply with the emergency order, it is unclear how it might be enforced,” New York Times reporters wrote on Saturday.
“I’ve said before, and I’ll say it again,” James wrote in a social media post, urging Musk and his squad to respect the injunction. “No one is above the law.”
Read the full emergency order here.
