Judge temporarily blocks DOGE data access suit brought by Wisconsin, 18 other states

A federal judge has issued an emergency order to prevent Elon Musk’s government efficiency office from accessing personal data, following a multistate lawsuit joined by Wisconsin and 18 other states.

The lawsuit, filed Friday, argued Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, cannot legally access Treasury Department records, including Social Security numbers and bank account details, and that to do so would expose such information to “huge cybersecurity risks.”

Wisconsin signed onto the suit late Friday. In a written statement, Gov. Tony Evers said it’s illegal to give political appointees access to Wisconsinites’ personal and financial data.

“Wisconsinites expect the federal government to treat their Social Security numbers, bank account information, and other sensitive personal details with the highest level of protection and confidentiality — and that obligation doesn’t go out the window just because Elon Musk says it should,” he said.

On Saturday, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer ruled Musk and his team at the DOGE cannot access Treasury Department records and ordered the office to destroy any material it had already accessed.

Engelmayer said Americans will face “irreparable harm” if information understood to be secure and confidential is exposed to officials outside of trained Treasury employees.

“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 systems in question will be more vulnerable than before to hacking,” Engelmayer wrote.

That emergency restraining order is temporary and stands until another judge hears the case on Thursday.

The White House has said that Musk is designated as a special government employee, which would allow him to skirt certain disclosure laws around his own business interests.

The lawsuit was filed in a Manhattan district court by New York Attorney General Letitia James.  It argued the 19 states that signed onto the suit faced “huge cybersecurity risks that put vast amounts of funding for the States and their residents in peril.”

In addition to asking for immediate relief, it also called for appointees, special government employees and untrained permanent employees to be barred from accessing Treasury data.

The Trump administration is currently subject to at least 45 lawsuits, according to a count by the think tank Just Security. Wisconsin has signed onto several, including one on Monday to block funding cuts at the National Institutes of Health.