Judge blocks Musk, DOGE from accessing Treasury payment systems

A federal judge in an overnight ruling Saturday blocked Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the Treasury Department’s payment systems used to dole out trillions of dollars each year.

U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer’s ruling is more extensive than the agreement the administration reached earlier in the week to temporarily limit access to two DOGE personnel.

Engelmayer blocked the Treasury Department from providing access to anyone “other than civil servants with a need for access to perform their job duties.” It explicitly prohibits special government employees and those detailed from outside the department.

He also ordered anyone who is now blocked to immediately destroy any material they’ve already downloaded.

The ruling is only temporary. It will last until at least Friday, when another judge, who is permanently overseeing the case brought by 19 Democratic state attorneys general, will hold a hearing in New York about whether to grant a longer pause.

“The Court’s firm assessment is that, for the reasons stated by the States, they will face irreparable harm in the absence of injunctive relief,” wrote Engelmayer, an appointee of former President Obama.

“That is both because of the risk that the new policy presents of the disclosure of sensitive and confidential information and the heightened risk that the systems in question will be more vulnerable than before to hacking,” the judge continued.

Engelmayer handed down his ruling Saturday before dawn, just hours after the states filed their lawsuit Friday night.

It’s the latest ruling in a string of lawsuits that seek to combat Musk’s expansive portfolio in President Trump’s new administration, which has led DOGE to reshape the federal bureaucracy, agency by agency.

DOGE’s access to the Treasury payment systems has come into particular focus and raised concerns among Democrats. In response to a legal challenge brought by a coalition of unions, the Trump administration earlier this week agreed to limit access to two personnel until the next stage of the case.

A challenge has also been brought against DOGE’s access to the Education Department. And in yet another lawsuit, a judge Friday declined the AFL-CIO's request to block Musk’s team from accessing Labor Department data.

That group has indicated they plan to expand their lawsuit this weekend to other agencies where DOGE has reportedly implanted, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

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