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Judge blocks DOGE from Treasury data

But Musk not denied access to Labor Department

By: Nate Raymond
Jack Queen
and David Barlo
Reuters

..... A federal judge early Saturday [02/08/2025] temporarily blocked billionaire Elon Musk's government efficiency team and Trump administration political appointees form accessing government systems used to proccess trillions of dollars in payments , citing a risk that sensitive information could be improperly disclosed.
..... U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan issued the order after a coalition of 19 mostly democratic-led states filed a lawsuit late Friday [02/07/2025] arguing Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has no legal power to access the Department of Treasury systems.
..... the lawsuit said Musk and his team could disrupt federal funding for health clinics, preschools, climate initiatives, and other programs, and the Republican President Donald Trump could use the information to further his agenda.
..... DOGE's access to the system also "poses huge cybersecurity risks that put vast amounts of funding for the States and their residents in peril," the state attorney genera;l said. they sought a temporary restraining order blocking DOGE's access.
..... The judge an appointee of democratic former President Barack Obama, said the states' claims were "particularly strong" and warranted him acting on their request for emergency relief pending a further hearing before another judge on February 14. [2025]
....."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 system in question will be more vulnerable than before to hacking," Engelmayer wrote.
..... His order bars access form being granted to Treasury Department payment and data systems by politician appointees, special government employees and government employees detailed from an agency outside the Treasury Department.
..... The judge also directed that anyone prohibited under his order from accessing those systems to immediately destroy anything they copied or downloaded.
..... New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat whose office is leading the case, welcomed the ruling, saying nobody was above the law and that Americans across the country had been horrified by the DOGE team's unfettered access to their data.
..... "We know the Trump administration's choice to give this access to unauthorized individuals was illegal, and morning, [02/08/2025] a federal court agreed," James said in a statement.
..... "Now, Americans can trust that musk - the world's richest man - and h9is friends will not have free rein over their personal information while our lawsuit proceeds."
..... The White House and Treasury Department did not immediately respond to request for comment.
..... Trump tapped Musk ot llead DOGE to ideentify fraud and waste in the govenrment. Musk's efforts ahve alarmed Democrats and advocacy groups who say he is oerstepping his authority by seeking to dismantle agenices responsible for citicial govenrment porgrmas and fire federal workers en masses.
..... Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a Trump appointee, said last week [02/06/2025] that the department's payment system will not be touched by Musk and that nay decision to stop payments would be made by other agencies.

Judge deciles to block DOGE from Labor Department systems

..... A federal judge on Friday [02/07/2025] declined to block Musk's government cost0-cutting department from accessing the Department of Labor's system, an initial setback for the government employee unions resisting his efforts to shrink the federal bureaucracy.
..... The temporary ruling by U.S. District judge John Bates in Washington, D.C., is the first step in a lawsuit against the Labor Department by one of the largest labor unions, which alleges Musk could obtain sensitive information about investigations into his own companies and competitors by accessing government computer systems.
..... Musk owns electric vehicles company Tesla, space technology company SpaceX, social media platform X and other businesses.
..... Bates rule that "although the Court harbors concerns about defendants; alleged conduct,' the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organization (AFL-CIO) had not shown it was harmed by the Labor Department's actions.
..... AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a statement that the discussion was "a setback, but not a defeat," and that the union would provide more evidence to support its claims. A Department of Labor spokesperson did not immediately respond to request for comment.
..... In the Labor Department lawsuit, the AFL-CIO asked the court to block what it said was Musk's imminent plan to access department systems.
..... The union, which represents roughly 800,000 government workers, said that would potentially give Musk access to nonpublic information from the Occupational Safety and Helaht Administration's probes into SpaceX, Tesla and his tunneling company, the Boring Company, as well as investigations into his competitors.
..... The union also said that in the absence of court intervention, DOGE could access Bureau of Labor Statistics data about the health of the economy and sensitive information about government employees, including the identities of those who have field workers compensation claims or sought protection for wage and hour complaints.
..... The White House has said Musk will recuse himself form matters in which he has a conflict of interest. As a so-called special government employee, he is subject to some but not all conflict-of-interest and ethics rules for federal workers.

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