A federal judge on Friday rejected a request to prevent employees with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the Department of Treasury's sensitive federal payment system.
US District Judge Colleen Colleen Cotery denied alliance requests for retired Americans and several employee unions, failing to show that Doge staff would face irreparable harm if they gained access.
“If the plaintiff can demonstrate that the defendant plans to release personal information or share that information with non-federal individuals without obligation to maintain its confidentiality, the court will not hesitate to find any potential irreparable harm,” wrote Kollar-Kotelly.
“However, current records do not show that the defendant has such a plan,” she continued.
The judge also lifted an earlier order restricting access to a system known as financial services, which handles 90% of federal payments.
Her previous order allowed two Doge-related employees to receive read-only access to the payment system. This originally included Tom Krause, CEO of Cloud Software Group and 25-year-old Marko Elez.
After Elez resigned in early February, the orders were updated, allowing new employees to access financial services in detail to Ryan Wunderly, the Department of Finance.
Despite Kollar-Kotelly's decision on Friday, another ruling remains blocking the Doge team from the system.
In late February, US District Judge Janet Vargas agreed to partially grant requests from 19 Democratic Attorney Generals and ban financial services from the Doge team.
But Vargas also provided a process that ultimately allowed them to access the Trump administration.
If the administrative staff proves that the DOGE staff has received appropriate training and share details regarding the review and security clearance, the judge said they would consider canceling or modifying her order.
