A group of Democratic attorneys general sued President Donald Trump on Friday to block Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive personal data housed at the U.S. Treasury Department.
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment via email on Friday.
The Context
The lawsuit comes after DOGE employees gained access to the Treasury’s payments system, which controls trillions of dollars in federal disbursements for tax refunds, veterans’ benefits, Social Security payments, Medicare, Medicaid and other services. It also houses a massive network of Americans’ personal and financial information.
DOGE also obtained access to the Office of Personnel Management, which contains the personal data of millions of federal government workers, and the General Services Administration, among other agencies.
What To Know
Nineteen Democratic attorneys general filed Friday’s lawsuit, which alleges that by granting Musk and his team access to the Treasury’s payments system, the Trump administration violated federal law.
“As the richest man in the world, Elon Musk is not used to being told ‘no,’ but in our country, no one is above the law,” New York attorney general Letitia James said in an announcement. “The President does not have the power to give away our private information to anyone he chooses, and he cannot cut federal payments approved by Congress.”
The lawsuit names Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the U.S. Treasury Department as defendants.
It highlights that the Treasury’s payments system, the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS), has “a variety of sensitive personally identifiable information (‘PII’), including social security and bank account numbers, as well as confidential financial information about the amount and type of payment being made.”
Until recently, the complaint says, only a small number of career civil servants had access to BFS so they could ensure the system was functioning securely and as intended when it disburses federal funds and payments.
That changed, the lawsuit says, when Trump and Bessent granted “expanded access” to BFS to “political appointees and ‘special government employees’ for reasons that have yet to be provided,” except for “one apparent purpose.”
The purpose “is to allow DOGE to advance a stated goal to block federal funds from reaching beneficiaries who do not align with the President’s political agenda,” the complaint alleges. “For example, DOGE was tasked with freezing payments issued by the U.S. Agency for International Development (‘USAID’) and sought access to BFS payment systems to accomplish that goal.”
The lawsuit went on to allege that “there have been numerous interruptions to federal fundings streams in recent weeks, impacting health clinics, preschools, climate initiatives, and more.”
It added that the level of DOGE’s access to the Treasury “remains unclear” and that the task force could still have “the ability to collect data from BFS systems and route it to individuals with the ability to, for example, freeze particular payments.”
A federal judge imposed limits on DOGE’s access to sensitive data on Thursday, ruling that two “special government employees” within the body have “read-only” access to the systems “as need for the performance” of their jobs.
James’ office filed the lawsuit, along with eighteen other states:
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- North Carolina
- Oregon
- Rhode Island
- Vermont
- Wisconsin
DOGE has drawn sharp criticism—and legal pushback—since President Donald Trump was inaugurated on January 20.
In addition to accessing Treasury systems, Musk and his allies have also sought unfettered access to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Small Business Administration and other agencies. Trump said Friday that he had also directed Musk to “check out” the Pentagon‘s and the Department of Education’s spending.
The White House said earlier this week that Musk is a “special government employee,” which is defined by the Justice Department as someone who works 130 days or less in a 365-day period, with or without compensation. The White House said Musk is not being paid for his work, but DOGE announced last month that it would hire a small number of full-time salaried employees.
What People Are Saying
James said in a statement accompanying the lawsuit: “Musk and DOGE have no authority to access Americans’ private information and some of our country’s most sensitive data.”
What Happens Next
The White House will likely seek to have the lawsuit dismissed.
Update 02/07/25 8:36 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
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