Under pressure from a new lawsuit, the Trump administration has been forced to guarantee that it will severely restrict Elon Musk and DOGE from accessing the Treasury Department’s payment system.
This limited access will slow Musk’s efforts to make drastic changes to the federal government or limit millions of Americans’ private data.
WHAT HAPPENED: On Wednesday, the Justice Department agreed in federal court to limit DOGE access to the payment system to only two employees. They also guaranteed those employees would have “read only” access to the data.
WHY IT MATTERS: Earlier this week, the Treasury Department—under pressure from Democratic senators—claimed the same thing. But this will carry the weight of a court order if agreed to by a judge. (AKA, it’s much easier to lie to Congress than to a court.)
SOME BACKGROUND: The lawsuit against Trump, Musk and DOGE was filed only days ago by the non-profit Alliance for Retired Americans and two unions, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
They argued that DOGE’s access to the Treasury Department’s payment system—with its vast trove of private data for millions of Americans—violated federal privacy laws.
WHAT’S NEXT: This temporary order still has to be agreed to by a judge (which is likely to happen). But by losing access to Treasury payment systems, Musk and DOGE can’t just dig through government financial records or start making drastic changes without oversight.
It’s part of the slow—but steady—progress being made against Trump, Musk, and their neofascist agenda in court.
