A federal judge has granted an injunction requested by more than a dozen attorneys general to prevent the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the Treasury Department's central payment system.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas extended the pause by issuing a preliminary injunction. The ruling came after a lawsuit was filed by 19 state attorneys general who are against Elon Musk and the DOGE team accessing the payment system.
Vargas noted in her 64-page decision that she was granting the preliminary injunction because of the possible disclosure of the states’ bank records. She also said the plaintiffs "have not demonstrated that they are entitled to the broad and sweeping relief they seek, which would far exceed the scope of the present TRO (Temporary restraining order)."
The lawsuit claims DOGE illegally accessed the Treasury Department’s central payment system which has information about Americans’ Social Security, Medicare and veterans’ benefits.
The lawsuit was filed in New York by the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James. The other states in the lawsuit are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.
