Most of the Trump administration has been barred from accessing sensitive Treasury records for at least a week, the judge ruled.
A federal judge temporarily banned the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), run by Elon Musk, and has access to personal financial data from millions of Americans who remain in the Treasury Department.
By the injunction, President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent will access records that contain personally identifiable or confidential financial information to political appointees, special government officials, or other employees outside the department. It is prohibited to allow the The White House has designated masks as special government officials.
Under the order, only those who work for the Bureau of Finance Services and who have passed background checks can access those records to do their job.
The judge further ordered those who are among those restricted to “quickly destroying all copies of the Treasury records and materials downloaded from the system.”
A hearing on the issue is scheduled for February 14th.
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The decision comes after 19 state attorney generals sued Trump and Bescent after Doge was given access to Treasury records. Doge is an advisory body that is tasked with identifying ways to reduce government spending.
The Attorney General argued that Musk and Doge, who are not the official government department, should not have access to such highly sensitive financial data. They argued that the move violates federal law and presents large-scale cybersecurity and privacy risks.
Engelmeyer agreed with the state’s claim that “without injunctive relief, we would face irreparable harm.”
“This is due to the increased risk that new policies show disclosure of sensitive and sensitive information and that the system in question is more vulnerable than before,” writes Engelmayer.
There were no immediate comments from the White House or Musk.
The decision is the latest in a series of judicial interventions that hinder the Trump administration’s rapidly developing actions to reconsider federal bureaucracy. Hours before Engelmeyer’s order, another federal judge in Washington suspended a Musk-led initiative to dismantle USAID, the agency responsible for administering foreign aid programs.
In recent weeks, judges have ended the automated citizenship of children born in US soil, suspended federal grants and loans, provided acquisitions to federal workers, and as transgender women. He intervened to block Trump’s early enforcement actions to end automatic citizenship to send male prisoners back to the men’s prison.
