A U.S. District Judge, Paul Engelmayer, issued an emergency ruling early Saturday preventing Elon Musk’s government reform team from accessing personal and financial records of millions of Americans stored at the Treasury Department, according to court filings.
Engelmayer’s directive prohibits granting access to Treasury payment systems and sensitive data to “all political appointees, special government employees, and personnel detailed from agencies outside the Treasury Department.”
The temporary restraining order, in place until a scheduled hearing on February 14, 2025, mandates that any individual who has accessed Treasury records since President Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20 must “immediately delete any downloaded material.”
Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur and world’s wealthiest individual, has been spearheading Trump’s cost-cutting initiatives through the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Legal Pushback from State Attorneys General
The lawsuit was filed Friday by attorneys general from 19 states against President Trump, the Treasury Department, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The plaintiffs claim the administration unlawfully expanded access to confidential financial data by allowing Musk’s team to tap into Treasury systems.
Although Musk leads Tesla, SpaceX, and X, he is not a federal employee or government official. However, recent reports suggest he has been designated a “special government employee.”
DOGE has not been formally recognized as a government agency, a status that would require congressional approval. Nonetheless, Musk—a prominent Trump ally and major donor—has aggressively pushed federal agency overhauls, including pausing foreign aid, slashing budgets, and initiating mass layoffs of government employees.
On Saturday, Musk took to X (formerly Twitter) to criticize Engelmayer, calling him an “activist” and accusing Democrats of trying to cover up “possibly the biggest fraud scheme in human history!”
‘Unfettered Access’ Raises Security Concerns
Judge Engelmayer, in his ruling, emphasized the urgent need for intervention, warning that the policy posed “irreparable harm” by increasing the risk of confidential data breaches and cybersecurity threats.
Last week, concerns escalated when reports surfaced that Musk’s team had gained access to highly sensitive Treasury records. An internal Treasury Department review labeled DOGE’s data access as “the single biggest insider threat the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS) has ever faced,” according to media sources.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, accuses the Trump administration of granting “virtually unrestricted access” to federal financial systems, including to at least one 25-year-old DOGE associate with the authority to modify critical files.
The suit further alleges that sensitive data from multiple federal agencies is being fed into an open-source artificial intelligence (AI) system owned by an undisclosed private entity.
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin condemned the situation, stating that Trump “has allowed an unelected billionaire to infiltrate vital federal systems containing Social Security numbers, banking details, and other highly sensitive personal data.”
Mounting Legal Challenges to Trump’s Reforms
Trump’s rapid restructuring of the federal government has sparked multiple legal battles.
A judge recently blocked an attempt to revoke birthright citizenship, while another halted a mass federal worker buyout pending further arguments next week.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), responsible for global humanitarian aid, has become a major focus of the administration’s cuts. Thousands of overseas staff have been ordered back to the U.S., with plans to reduce USAID’s workforce from 10,000 to just 300 employees.
Labor unions are fighting back, challenging the legality of these sweeping changes. On Friday, a federal judge temporarily halted a plan to place 2,200 USAID workers on paid leave.
Democrats argue that Trump lacks the authority to dismantle government agencies without congressional approval.
As the legal battles unfold, the administration’s restructuring efforts face increasing resistance from the judiciary and state governments.