A federal judge said Wednesday said was inclined to issue a temporary injunction prohibiting entities outside the Treasury Department — including Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency — from accessing sensitive taxpayer records from the Bureau of the Fiscal Service.
During the hearing, a lawyer from the Department of Justice disclosed that two “special government employees” associated with Musk, but employed by the Treasury Department, accessed sensitive records from the Bureau of the Fiscal Service based on “high level guidance” from the Department of Government Efficiency to prevent waste and fraud.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly gave the government and unions who brought the case until 6 p.m. ET to say whether they agree to the injunction, which would allow the two employees to continue viewing the records but block anyone from the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the sensitive materials.
The hearing followed a lawsuit filed by three federal unions that alleged DOGE employees violated federal privacy laws when they accessed data from the Treasury Department, including the names, social security numbers, birthdays, bank account numbers, and addresses of taxpayers, as part of DOGE’s effort to trim the size of the federal government under President Donald Trump.
“The scale of the intrusion into individuals’ privacy is massive and unprecedented,” the lawsuit alleged.
The American Federation of Government Employees, the Service Employees International Union, and the Alliance for Retired Americans alleged that Musk and DOGE — with the consent of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — unlawfully accessed the sensitive records without providing any legal justification, public reasoning, or legal procedure to collect taxpayer data.
People gather to protest outside the headquarters of the Office of Personnel Management after the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency was charged with oversight of OPM, in Washington, Feb. 2, 2025.
Kent Nishimura/Reuters
According to the lawsuit, DOGE’s “full, continuous, and ongoing access” of sensitive data risks the security of millions of Americans.
“People who must share information with the federal government should not be forced to share information with Elon Musk or his ‘DOGE.’ And federal law says they do not have to,” the lawsuit says.
The plaintiffs requested a temporary restraining order preventing the Treasury Department from providing DOGE sensitive information as well as enjoining DOGE employees from using any of the records they might have already obtained.
