A U.S. judge has issued an emergency order preventing Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing sensitive Treasury Department data, citing security risks and potential insider threats.
The ruling, issued early Saturday by U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer, comes amid growing controversy over the Trump administration’s cost-cutting efforts, led by Musk, which allegedly granted DOGE staffers broad access to financial records of millions of Americans.
Court Order: Halt Data Access, Destroy All Downloads
The temporary order restricts access to Treasury payment systems for political appointees, special government employees, and staff detailed from other agencies. It also mandates the immediate destruction of any previously downloaded records.
The injunction remains in effect until a February 14 hearing.
Judge Engelmayer warned that allowing unrestricted access to Treasury data posed a severe cybersecurity risk.
“The new policy presents a heightened risk of data breaches and the unauthorized disclosure of confidential information,”
he stated.
‘Insider Threat’—States Push Back
The lawsuit, filed by states including New York and California, alleges that the Trump administration granted “virtually unfettered access” to at least one junior DOGE associate, raising alarms over cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
An internal Treasury report described the DOGE team’s access as “the single biggest insider threat the Bureau of the Fiscal Service has ever faced.”
Adding to concerns, the lawsuit claims that data from multiple federal agencies may have been fed into an AI system controlled by a private third party—potentially compromising sensitive government information.
Legal Battles Loom Over Trump’s Reforms
This latest court challenge is part of a broader legal pushback against the Trump administration’s aggressive restructuring of federal agencies.
A judge recently blocked Trump’s attempt to revoke birthright citizenship, while another halted mass buyouts of federal workers. The administration’s efforts to slash the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) workforce from 10,000 to just 300 have also sparked legal disputes.
Critics argue that Trump’s moves to dismantle government agencies without congressional approval are unconstitutional.
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin condemned the administration’s handling of sensitive data, stating,
“Trump has allowed an unelected billionaire to infiltrate key federal agencies and systems that store Social Security numbers, banking information, and other extremely sensitive data.”
With the February 14 hearing approaching, the fight over government access to financial data is obviously not over.
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