Judge denies Democrat-led effort to block DOGE access, citing lack of proven harm

A federal judge refused the block on Tuesday Elon Musk Government efficiency through access to government data or layoffs of federal employees.

US District Judge Tanya Chukkan failed to provide necessary evidence of the harm caused by Doge's access to the temporary restraining order, making it more than a dozen democratically led states. The plaintiff, who represents, decided that the plaintiff was necessary.

The decision from Obama's appointee Chutkan to a coalition of 14 lawyer generals who sued last week to temporarily restrict Doge's access to federal data personnel information on government employees. It's a blow.

The plaintiffs argued that the leadership role held by private citizens, Mask, represents an “illegal delegation of enforcement,” and that employees working at various federal agencies and government contractors “a wide-ranging approach.” It threatened what was called “confusion over.”

Doge won a big court victory and allowed access data at three federal agencies

“The big threat to democracy is not a greater threat than the accumulation of state power in a single, unelected individual,” the lawsuit filed by New Mexico Attorney General Raul Trez said. Ta.

Attorney generals from California, Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington also joined him in the request. .

Judge Chatkan sometimes seemed sympathetic to the views brought by Trez and other plaintiffs during Monday's hearing, but she also said that the plaintiffs needed to have a temporary restraining order. suggested that they were not convinced they had met the high legal standards properly.

“What I'm hearing is certainly awkward, but before I issue anything, I need to have a record and a finding of fact,” Chukkan said Monday.

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Elon Musk will place his son xæa-xii on his shoulder while talking at the White House oval office in Washington, DC on February 11, 2025. (Jim Watsonafp via Getty Images)

The hearing is the latest in a surge in emergency lawsuits filed nationwide that are attempting to block or limit access to Doge's sensitive government data.

Similar legal challenges are unfolding in federal courts nationwide from New York and Maryland to Virginia and D.C., with plaintiffs citing privacy invasions, layoffs and possible retaliation from DOGE.

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Doge, a musk-led agency, was created by an executive order earlier this year. The position as a temporary organization within the White House is only a small measure to Doge and its employees to implement the goal of optimizing the federal government, streamlining its activities, and of course doing it at all low cost. It's only given for 18 months.

Doge's broad mission, combined with its lack of detail, sparked new concerns from outside observers. They question exactly how the group will provide ambitious optimization goals in such a short time.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler will speak at a rally with Government Efficiency (DOGE) outside the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, DC. (Kena Betancur/ViewPress)

But Musk and his allies are wasting a little time doing just that. They have spent the past month racing to deliver what they're seeing President Donald Trump The biggest campaign trail pledge: bloated federal budget cuts, aggressively reduce government waste, launch or stack large strips of federal employees.

The Justice Department argued Monday that the DOGE official in question is a “detailed” U.S. government official who has the right to access government data under the Economic Regulations Act.

The recent court victory also supported Doge's operations – allowing them to continue their vast operations, at least for now.

As Judge Chukkan pointed out Monday, fear and speculation alone is not enough to reduce doge access. Plaintiffs must clearly demonstrate that their work meets a difficult test of permanent or “irreparable” harm.

Later last week, US District Judge John Bates, appointee of George W. Bush, said in his own opinion on Friday that the plaintiff “has shown no substantial potential.” and rejected a request to block access to records from three government agencies. [DOGE] It's not an agency. ”

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Elon Musk and President Donald Trump will talk about Doge's efforts to investigate wasteful US government spending from the White House oval office in Washington, DC on February 11, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

For the plaintiffs, the TRO's defeat has become increasingly unclear that they hoped, if any, would have to ensure a close injunctive relief.

Plaintiffs representing 14 Democrats argued on Monday that Doge's broad access to institutions violated the U.S. Constitution's appointment clause.

That clause requires that the US government cabinet and other high-level leaders be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate majority vote.

They argued that the “spread authority” granted to Doge was not “mere academics.”

Already, according to the plaintiffs, Musk “cut billions of dollars off the agency's budget, fired the agency's staff, and he “deleted the entire agency” in his words.”

Trump “doesn't have the constitutional authority to unilaterally dismantle the government,” the Attorney General said. “He was also unable to delegate such vast authority to unelected individuals.”

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And while Judge Chukkan appears to share with the plaintiff's claim that at least some of Doji's actions appear to be “serious and troublesome,” she said that intentional fear would make their access. He insisted that it was not sufficient to grant the request to block immediately.

“You're talking about general fear,” she said of their doge complaints. “I haven't seen it before.”