25 Civ. 01144

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Last Friday, Judge Vargas granted a preliminary injunction filed by the Attorneys General of 19 States that restrains the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”) from accessing Treasury Department payment systems. The preliminary injunction substantially tracks the temporary restraining order (“TRO”) that Judge Engelmayer granted on February 9th, which bars the Treasury Department from granting access to DOGE team members to “any payment record, payment systems, or any other data systems maintained by the Treasury Department containing personally identifiable information and/or confidential financial information of payees.” The Court’s order also provides an opportunity for Defendants to cure the procedural defects related to the protection of sensitive and confidential information, which would then possibly justify termination or modification of the preliminary injunction.

Continue Reading Judge Vargas Grants Preliminary Injunction Limiting DOGE Access to U.S. Treasury systems
Continue Reading Judge Vargas Grants Preliminary Injunction Limiting DOGE Access to U.S. Treasury systems

On Saturday, Judge Engelmayer granted an application for temporary restraining order filed that day by the Attorneys General of 19 States. They requested that, pending a hearing for preliminary injunction, the Court restrain access by the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”) — or others that normally lack access — to the Treasury Department’s “payment record, payment systems, or any other data systems maintained by the Treasury Department containing personally identifiable information and/or confidential financial information of payees.”

Among the arguments advanced by the Attorneys General is that the Privacy Act of 1974 limits the disclosure of confidential information within an agency to specified persons within that agency, without any authority for disclosure to DOGE staffers or others outside Treasury.

The Court, in granting the temporary restraining order and scheduling a hearing for a preliminary injunction for February 14, agreed with the States that, absent a TRO, there was risk of sensitive information being compromised or the system being vulnerable to hacking:Continue Reading Judge Engelmayer Grants TRO Blocking Access to Treasury Databases