U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan is poised to rule on whether to block Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing sensitive records from nearly half a dozen Federal agencies.
After presiding over a virtual hearing today and hearing arguments from both the plaintiffs and defendants, Chutkan stated that she plans to issue a ruling within 24 hours on the request which was filed by a coalition of 14 state attorneys general.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks to block Musk’s DOGE team from accessing sensitive Federal systems containing personal data on millions of Americans. The 14 attorneys general, representing California, New Mexico, Arizona, Michigan, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, argue that Musk has disrupted Federal agencies and accessed sensitive information.
The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order to block DOGE from firing employees or accessing data from the Departments of Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, Energy, Transportation, Commerce, and the Office of Personnel Management.
This is the second time Chutkan has heard arguments for a temporary block on DOGE. After the first hearing on Feb. 14, she asked for a narrower request from the plaintiffs, which they presented today.
However, Chutkan again appeared skeptical in her remarks today, calling the plaintiffs’ request for a restraining order “prophylactic,” and questioning the evidence of harm from DOGE’s actions.
While the plaintiffs cited several media reports detailing DOGE’s recent actions, Chutkan stated that, “the court can’t act based on the media reports.” She further explained that to grant the temporary restraining order, the states would need to prove a threat of “extreme …imminent harm […that] can’t be undone.”
“I’m not seeing it so far,” she said.
While she seemed skeptical of the states’ request, Chutkan also questioned DOGE’s overall actions and the government lawyers’ lack of information.
Specifically, she questioned why the government lawyers seemed to have limited details about DOGE’s overall conduct, including the number of firings across the Federal government to date.
She said that relevant to the case is whether “thousands of Federal employees have been terminated on Friday.”
Chutkan further explained that DOGE’s tactics make it harder for the state attorneys general to “prove a concrete, immediate harm.” However, despite this, she again acknowledged the seriousness of the allegations brought by the states.
Chutkan plans to issue a ruling on the request within the next 24 hours. If she denies the restraining order, it could allow Musk and DOGE to continue accessing Federal data systems and implementing their large-scale cuts.
