'Rogue Judge' Halts DOGE from Auditing Treasury Department's Financial Data

"Ultimately this case is political."

A ‘rogue’ federal judge in New York named Judge Paul A. Engelmayer has essentially made himself the new Secretary of the Treasury.

That’s the level of absurdity we we are talking about in regards to a judge’s recent ex parte order stopping the Secretary of the Treasury from having access to financial data being managed by his subordinates.

A federal judge in New York on Saturday issued an emergency injunction prohibiting Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the Treasury Department’s payment system, citing risks of "irreparable harm" to millions of Americans' sensitive data.

U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer’s preliminary order bars DOGE personnel from examining Treasury records and mandates that any material previously downloaded be destroyed. The ruling overrides a separate federal judge’s decision on Thursday that had permitted limited "read-only" access for two DOGE employees. A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 14.

Engelmayer's order comes in response to a lawsuit filed Friday by 19 Democratic attorneys general against President Donald Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and the Treasury Department. The attorneys general, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, argue that DOGE’s access to the Treasury’s payment system was granted without public notice, explanation, or a privacy impact assessment.

“Bessent’s implementation of Treasury’s new broader access policy, allowing Musk and his DOGE team to access BFS’s payment systems, was adopted without any public announcement or explanation,” the lawsuit states. “Defendants have provided no reasons at all to justify the new policy.”

In a video statement Friday, James accused Musk and DOGE of illegally obtaining sensitive financial data and attempting to interfere with government payments.

“This unelected group, led by the world’s richest man, is not authorized to have this information, and they explicitly sought this unauthorized access to illegally block payments that millions of Americans rely on—payments for health care, child care, and other essential programs,” she said.