A federal judge in Washington D.C. has refused to block President Donald Trump’s Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the Treasury Department’s systems.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly declined to block the employees further after issuing an initial pause to their access.
The initial pause had limited access to two employees with read-only privileges.
Another court order is currently blocking DOGE’s access to the systems entirely.
The lawsuit was filed by advocacy and union groups that are concerned DOGE would expose their sensitive information.
Judge Kollar-Kotelly said those concerns are “understandable and no doubt widely shared.”
However, the judge noted that the plaintiffs haven’t shared anything to indicate any immediate risk of lasting damage from information being revealed.
The employees are already obligated to keep such information secret.
In her ruling, Kollar-Kotelly wrote:
“If Plaintiffs could show that Defendants imminently planned to make their private information public or to share that information with individuals outside the federal government with no obligation to maintain its confidentiality, the Court would not hesitate to find a likelihood of irreparable harm.
“But on the present record, Plaintiffs have not shown that Defendants have such a plan,” the judge added.
“If circumstances change, Plaintiffs are free to return to federal court to seek any proper emergency remedy.”
One source of the plaintiffs’ concern is that one of the employees with access resigned after an alleged series of racist social media posts emerged.
However, he has since been hired back by Musk.
Meanwhile, Kollar-Kotelly is keeping her options open if relevant evidence comes to light that there are privacy concerns.
The judge said she “would not hesitate” to pause it again.
Regardless of what the judge decides, DOGE is under an order from a Manhattan court restricting its access to the Treasury’s systems.
Over a dozen state attorneys general sued DOGE to block it from accessing the files.
All of the prosecutors were Democrats.
In a statement last month, New York’s anti-Trump Attorney General Letitia James said:
“Musk and DOGE are trying to wipe out vital programs and services — from healthcare to public safety to education — that our communities need.
“I led a coalition of attorneys general to put a stop to this lawlessness, and a federal court has yet again blocked their access to our confidential information.”
Part of the controversy surrounding the case is whether Musk is the leader of DOGE.
The White House has denied that Musk leads any department.
The Trump administration has asserted that Musk is a senior advisor to the president.
Musk is not a paid employee of the Trump admin or the federal government.
However, the Left has sought to drum up fears about Musk accessing Americans’ personal files.
Amy Gleason has been named the administrator of DOGE.
Nevertheless, Musk is viewed as the face of DOGE, making him the primary target of the Democrats.
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