Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency's ability to access a sensitive system used by the Treasury Department to make federal payments has been put on ice by a federal judge. US District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued a preliminary injunction early Saturday in response to a suit filed by 19 Democratic attorneys general against the president; they claim federal law doesn't allow such access to be granted. Prior to this Trump administration, only a select number of longtime civil servants with security clearances had access, per the suit.
The New York Times reports the suit alleges that DOGE, under the auspices of cutting costs, is "attempting to access government data to support initiatives to block federal funds from reaching certain disfavored beneficiaries." The suit states that Congress has already signed off on said funding, and that the Treasury Department doesn't have statutory authority to interfere with the processing of those payments. The Times notes about 90% of payments made by the US government go through the system. Engelmayer set a hearing on the case for Friday and instructed any DOGE aides who have downloaded information from the payment system to destroy those copies, reports the AP.
- New York Attorney General Letitia James' office filed the lawsuit, and she had this to say about the situation on Friday: "This unelected group, led by the world's richest man, is not authorized to have this information, and they explicitly sought this unauthorized access to illegally block payments that millions of Americans rely on, payments for health care, child care, and other essential programs."
- Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, who also joined the suit, didn't mince words: "This is the largest data breach in American history. "DOGE is an unlawfully constituted band of renegade tech bros combing through confidential records, sensitive data and critical payment systems. What could go wrong?"
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