Musk’s DOGE experience win and loss amid legal battles

• Two federal judges released rulings on Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) attempts to cut government spending. U.S. District Judge John Bates ruled in favor of DOGE accessing sensitive records from three agencies, while U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas maintained a restraining order preventing DOGE from accessing the Treasury Department’s payment system.
• Judge Bates determined that DOGE likely qualifies as an “agency,” allowing it to access sensitive information from the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
• In contrast, judge Vargas declined to issue a longer-term injunction but kept the restraining order in place.

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Two federal judges released their rulings on Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency’s latest attempts to cut government spending. One judge sided with him to collect data from three agencies, while the other sided against his attempts at gaining access to the Treasury Department’s payment system.

How did the federal judges rule?

The first judge, U.S. District Judge John Bates, denied a request made by a group of unions and nonprofits to block Musk and DOGE from accessing sensitive records from the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

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The judge said his decision came down to whether DOGE has the authority to “detail” its people to individual parts of the federal government. The judge claimed, as employees of that department or agency, those associated with DOGE would legally have access to sensitive records.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued DOGE is not an agency, since it was created by an executive order. That would mean DOGE isn’t entitled to detail its employees to parts of the federal government.

Bates determined that DOGE was likely an “agency” and determined DOGE has access to the sensitive information.

In a separate ruling, U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas declined to rule on a longer-term preliminary injunction to keep DOGE from accessing the Treasury Department’s payment system. Vargas instead kept the current restraining order against the agency that was issued on Feb. 8.

The case was brought by 19 Democratic attorneys general, who were seeking to block DOGE from accessing personal information from the payment system.

Why does Musk and DOGE want access to the payment system?

Musk has repeatedly criticized the Treasury Department and has said that they have never denied a payment to anyone. He also claimed the department was approving payments to terrorist groups.

Some experts said Musk could try to use the system to stop funds from being disbursed from the federal government. However, it’s unclear if that happened while DOGE had control of the system.

According to CNN, DOGE officials did try to pressure the Treasury Department to stop payments to the United States Agency for International Development on Jan. 24.

What’s next in the cases?

As of now, it’s unclear how many more court rulings could still be coming against Musk and DOGE. He has proposed several cuts to federal agencies that could continue to face legal and legislative problems.

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Since President Donald Trump was inaugurated, there have been at least 70 lawsuits against him and his initiatives.