Elon Musk
NEW YORK (Reuters) — A judge on Tuesday declined to immediately block Elon Musk’s government efficiency department from directing firings of federal workers or accessing databases, but said the case raises questions about Musk’s apparent unchecked authority as a top deputy to President Donald Trump.
Washington-based U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan denied — for now — a request by more than a dozen states for a judicial order barring the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, from accessing computer systems at seven federal agencies or purging government workers while litigation plays out.
Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, spearheads DOGE, which has taken the lead role in carrying out the Republican president’s plans for downsizing and overhauling the federal government.
In her decision, Chutkan wrote that the states “legitimately call into question what appears to be the unchecked authority of an unelected individual and an entity that was not created by Congress and over which it has no oversight.” But the judge said the states had not shown why they were entitled to an immediate restraining order.
The lawsuit sought to bar DOGE from accessing information systems or firing employees at the departments of Labor, Education, Health and Human Services, Energy, Transportation and Commerce, and at the Office of Personnel Management.
Chutkan could eventually rule in favor of the states but said in her ruling that their request for an emergency court order was too broad and speculative.
Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, one of the officials who brought the case, said in a statement that her office will “continue to fight in court to protect the rights of all Arizonans from unconstitutional executive overreach.”
Representatives for the other attorneys general did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
