Federal Judge Blocks Elon Musk's DOGE From Accessing Treasury Department Records

Judge and Treasury

A federal judge early Saturday slammed the brakes on Elon Musk's government reform committee from accessing Treasury Department data that includes the Social Security information and bank account numbers of millions of Americans, according to reports.

U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, a Barack Obama employee, issued the temporary injunction after 19 Democratic attorneys general sued President Donald Trump, the Associated Press reported.

He also said that anyone without permission to access the information since Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20 must destroy all copies of any information downloaded from the Treasury Department's systems.

The payment system that Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was trying to access handles tax refunds, Social Security benefits and veterans' benefits, the AP said.

It contains a trove of Americans' financial and personal data.

Engelmayer, in his four-page order, said the states suing the Trump White House "will face irreparable harm in the absence of injunctive relief," the Washington Post reported.

"That is both because of the risk that the new policy presents of the disclosure of sensitive and confidential information and the heightened risk that the systems in question will be more vulnerable than before to hacking," Engelmayer wrote.

He set a hearing for Feb. 14.