A federal judge has temporarily blocked political appointees and special government employees working for the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive and confidential information stored within the Treasury Department. The decision came after 19 state attorneys general sued the federal government, claiming that tech mogul Elon Musk and his DOGE staffers had no authority to access Treasury Department data containing Americans’ Social Security numbers and financial information. U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued a temporary restraining order preventing access to this data and requiring the destruction of any downloaded material. A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 14 to discuss a preliminary injunction. The White House and Department of Justice did not comment immediately on the case. This follows a case where union members and retirees also sued the government over the same issue. The Trump administration had agreed to limit DOGE staff access to the data, but two employees, Tom Krause and Marko Elez, could still access it under certain conditions. Elez resigned after being linked to a social media account with racist views, but Musk promised to reinstate him at DOGE. This case raises concerns around privacy and access to sensitive financial data within government departments.
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