NEW YORK: A federal judge extended a block on Elon Musk's government cost-cutting team known as DOGE from accessing payment systems at the U.S. Treasury Department on Friday, as Democratic state officials and unions turned to the courts to slow the billionaire's efforts.
The Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency has swept through federal agencies since Republican Donald Trump became president last month and put the chief executive of carmaker Tesla in charge of rooting out wasteful spending as part of Trump's dramatic overhaul of government, which included thousands of job cuts on Friday.
In Manhattan, U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas extended a temporary block on DOGE that was put in place on Saturday, which prevented Musk's team from accessing Treasury systems responsible for trillions of dollars of payments.
The judge said at a court hearing that she would not yet rule on a request from 19 Democratic state attorneys general for a longer-lasting preliminary injunction on DOGE's access to the systems.
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The case by the attorneys general is one of at least 20 related to efforts to slash the size of the government. Around 70 lawsuits have been filed challenging Trump initiatives, from ending birthright citizenship to limiting federal funding for transgender health treatments, and many policies have been blocked by courts.
The attorneys general alleged that Musk's team has no legal power to access the payment systems that contain sensitive personal information on millions of Americans and that Musk and his team could disrupt funding for health clinics, preschools and other programs.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Musk and other Trump allies have called for judges to be impeached in response to rulings against his DOGE team, although the president said he would obey court orders.
At three other court hearings on Friday, judges declined to rule immediately on requests to block or extend orders barring the DOGE team access to government systems.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss considered a request by the University of California Student Association to extend a temporary block on DOGE from accessing systems at the Department of Education, which the students said would violate privacy and administrative procedure laws.
The judge, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama, said he would issue a decision by Monday.
The Trump administration has said that access is crucial to allow DOGE to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in student loan programs at a department that the president and Musk say should be eliminated.
“What does that mean, fraud, waste and abuse?” Moss asked a Justice Department attorney at the hearing. “I expect if you ask Elon Musk, he would say the entire Department of Education is waste.”
U.S. District Judge John Bates in Washington heard arguments by unions to prevent the DOGE team from accessing sensitive records at the Department of Health and Human Services, the Labor Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
He described the government’s position as “odd” that DOGE was not a government agency when it came to an open records law but it was under a statute that allowed its staff to work at various government departments.
Bates did not say when he would rule.
A group of Democratic attorneys general sued Musk, Trump and DOGE on Thursday, alleging that Musk's appointment was unconstitutional and asked a federal judge to bar him from accessing and using government data, cancelling contracts or making personnel decisions.
At a hearing in that case on Friday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington was skeptical of the states' request and Chutkan did not say when she would rule.
Most of Trump's initiatives that have been legally challenged have been blocked by the courts. Most of the cost-cutting campaign appears to be focused on programs opposed by political conservatives.
