Ruling Blocking Musk, DOGE From Treasury Systems Excludes Bessent, Judge Says

Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Treasury secretary, testifies before the Senate Committee on Finance at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 16, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

A federal judge on Feb. 11 turned down a government request to dissolve a restraining order that is blocking the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing government payment systems, but made clear that the block does not extend to the head of the U.S. Department of Treasury.

“There are no allegations in the Complaint suggesting that access to Treasury payment systems by such senior Treasury officials poses a threat of disclosure of sensitive and confidential information, or that their access would result in systems that would be more vulnerable to hacking,” U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas wrote in an 8-page decision.

She said that she agreed to modify the restraining order to clarify that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other senior department officers who were also confirmed by the Senate are not prohibited from accessing the agency’s payment systems, from the Bureau of Fiscal Services (BFS).

U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer recently barred DOGE, which is run by special government employee Elon Musk, and other individuals who are not civil servants “with a need for access to perform their job duties” from accessing the payment records, in response to a motion from 19 states that urged immediate intervention.

DOGE has been examining ways to make the government more efficient and reduce spending, a task Musk says has been aided by reviewing the records.

The states raised cybersecurity concerns, saying the personal information of their residents was put at risk with the access.

Government lawyers then asked Vargas, who is overseeing the case, to dissolve the order, arguing that it appeared to impermissibly cover Bessent and other top officials.

Vargas declined, writing that “there was a sound factual basis” for preventing political appointees beyond Bessent and other Senate-confirmed workers.

“The harms alleged in the Complaint that Judge Engelmayer determined were sufficient to warrant the grant of the ... [order] are plainly linked to the alleged grant of access to the BFS payment systems to such political appointees and special government employees,” she said.

Engelmayer had found that the states faced irreparable harm absent injunctive relief because, he wrote, “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.”

The order is temporary and could ultimately be rescinded or again adjusted as the case proceeds. Another possibility is that the order is turned permanent.