A federal judge early on Saturday temporarily restricted access by Elon Musk’s government efficiency programme to the treasury department’s payment and data systems, saying there was a risk of “irreparable harm”.
The Trump administration’s new policy of allowing political appointees and “special government employees” access to these systems, which contain highly sensitive information such as bank details, heightens the risk of leaks and of the systems becoming more vulnerable than before to hacking, US District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer said in an emergency order.
Judge Engelmayer ordered any such official who was granted access to the systems since January 20 to “destroy any and all copies of material downloaded from the treasury department’s records and systems”. He also restricted the Trump administration from granting access to these categories of officials.
The defendants — President Donald Trump, treasury secretary Scott Bessent and the treasury department — should show cause on February 14 before Judge Jeannette A. Vargas, who is handling the case on a permanent basis, Judge Engelmayer said.
The order came in response to a lawsuit filed on Friday by Letitia James of New York along with 18 other Democratic state attorneys general, charging that when President Trump gave Musk the run of government computer systems, he had breached protections enshrined in the Constitution and “failed to faithfully execute the laws enacted by Congress.”
The attorneys general said the President had given “virtually unfettered access” to the government’s most sensitive information to young aides who work for Musk, who runs a programme the administration calls the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
While the group was supposedly assigned to cut costs, members are “attempting to access government data to support initiatives to block federal funds from reaching certain disfavored beneficiaries”, according to the suit. Musk has publicly stated his intention to “recklessly freeze streams of federal funding without warning”, the suit said, pointing to his social media posts in recent days.
Musk’s team was given access to the government’s most fundamental computer data, including the US treasury department’s payment system, which is used to disburse funds including Social Security benefits, veteran’s benefits and federal employee wages.
The system — which channels about 90 percent of the payments for the US government, which spent about $6.75 trillion last fiscal year — pays funds directly to people in the states, as well as to state governments, the suit says.
Before Trump took office last month, access was granted to only a limited number of career civil servants with security clearances, the suit said. But Musk’s efforts had interrupted federal funding for health clinics, preschools, and climate initiatives, according to the filing.
The money had already been allocated by Congress. The Constitution assigns to lawmakers the job of deciding government spending.
“President Trump does not have the power to give away Americans’ private information to anyone he chooses, and he cannot cut federal payments approved by Congress,” James said in a statement.
New York Times News Service