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U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan found that there are
legitimate questions about Musk's authority but said there isn't
enough evidence of grave legal harm to justify a temporary
restraining order.
The decision came in a lawsuit filed by 14 Democratic states
challenging DOGE’s authority to access sensitive government
data. The attorneys general argued that Musk is wielding the
kind of power that the Constitution says can be held only by
those elected or confirmed by the Senate.
The Trump administration has maintained that layoffs are coming
from agency heads and asserted that despite his public cheering
of the effort, Musk isn't running DOGE's day-to-day operations
himself.
DOGE has tapped into computer systems across multiple agencies
with the blessing of President Donald Trump, digging into
budgets and searching for what he calls waste, fraud and abuse,
even as a growing number of lawsuits allege DOGE is violating
the law.
Chutkan recognized the concerns of the states, which include New
Mexico and Arizona.
“DOGE’s unpredictable actions have resulted in considerable
uncertainty and confusion," she wrote. Their questions about
Musk's apparent “unchecked authority” and lack of congressional
oversight for DOGE are legitimate and they may be able to
successfully argue them later, she found.
Still, at this point, it remains unclear exactly how DOGE's work
will affect the states, and judges can only issue orders to
block specific, immediate harms, she found.
Chutkan, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama,
previously oversaw the now-dismissed criminal election
interference case against Trump in Washington, D.C.
The states' lawsuit seeks to bar DOGE from the federal Office of
Personnel Management and the departments of Education, Labor,
Health and Human Services, Energy, Transportation and Commerce.
In other DOGE lawsuits, two other judges in Washington have
similarly declined to immediately block DOGE from access to
agency systems. A federal judge in New York has blocked DOGE’s
access to Treasury Department data for now.
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