DOJ defends DOGE Judge suggests temporary order blocking DOGE from Treasury records As far as DOJ knows, Elon Musk doesnt have access to Treasury Dept. data. Ashley Belanger Feb 5, 2025 5:31 pm | 63 A demonstrator holds a sign during a protest against Elon Musk outside the US Treasury building in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. Credit: Bloomberg / Contributor | Bloomberg A demonstrator holds a sign during a protest against Elon Musk outside the US Treasury building in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. Credit: Bloomberg / Contributor | Bloomberg Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreOn Wednesday, a US district judge, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, recommended a compromise in a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order to stop Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing Americans' sensitive Treasury Department data.If both parties agree, the compromise would allow two "special government employees" hired by the Treasury to continue accessing payments data to further DOGE's mission of eliminating government waste. But until the lawsuit is settled, DOGE and anyone outside the Treasury Department would be prohibited from reviewing that data directly, ensuring that nobody's government financial data is shared with any third parties without consent or proper notice.Kollar-Kotelly was assigned to this case yesterday, but due to the sensitivity of the complaint, she appears motivated to move quickly to ensure that no Americans' private data is illegally shared with anyone outside of the Treasury Department. To that end, she grilled US Department of Justice lawyer Bradley Humphreys to find out exactly who has access to Treasury data and how they are connected to DOGE.Humphreys contradicted media reports suggesting several DOGE employees, including possibly Musk, had gained access to the data. He told the judge that one special government employee hired by the Treasury Department, Marko Elez, has "read-only" access to the Treasury's payment system.However, Elez seems closely linked to Musk, who is often criticized for surrounding himself with sycophants. Elez, the temporary restraining order motion notes, is "an engineer who has worked for SpaceX and social-media platform X" before serving as an extension of DOGE now consulting within the Treasury Department.Elez reports to Tom Krause, another Treasury Department special government employee, but Krause doesn't have direct access to the payment system, Humphreys told the judge. Krause is the CEO of Cloud Software Group and is also viewed as a Musk ally.But when the judge pressed Humphreys on Musk's alleged access, the DOJ lawyer only said that as far as the defense team was aware, Musk did not have access.Further, Humphreys explained that DOGEwhich functions as part of the executive officedoes not have access, to the DOJ's knowledge. As he explained it, DOGE sets the high-level priorities that these special government employees carry out, seemingly trusting the employees to identify waste and protect taxpayer dollars without ever providing any detailed reporting on the records that supposedly are evidence of mismanagement.To Kollar-Kotelly, the facts on the record seem to suggest that no one outside the Treasury is currently accessing sensitive data. But when she pressed Humphreys on whether DOGE had future plans to access the data, Humphreys declined to comment, calling it irrelevant to the complaint.Humphreys suggested that the government's defense in this case would focus on the complaint that outsiders are currently accessing Treasury data, seemingly dismissing any need to discuss DOGE's future plans. But the judge pushed back, telling Humphreys she was not trying to "nail" him "to the wall," but there's too little information on the relationship between DOGE and the Treasury Department as it stands. How these entities work together makes a difference, the judge suggested, in terms of safeguarding sensitive Treasury data.According to Kollar-Kotelly, granting a temporary restraining order in part would allow DOGE to "preserve the status quo" of its current work in the Treasury Department while ensuring no new outsiders get access to Americans' sensitive information. Such an order would give both sides time to better understand the current government workflows to best argue their cases, the judge suggested.A lawyer for groups representing millions of retirees and government workers pushing for a temporary injunction, Nandan Joshi, suggested that the compromise would work for plaintiffs. But Humphreys said he wasn't authorized to agree to anything at the hearing and would have to run it by his clients.The parties reconvened later in the day but could not agree on the terms of the temporary restraining order.Kollar-Kotelly urged the parties to reach an agreement Wednesday evening, but it seems likely that instead, the DOJ will file a response to the temporary restraining order motion tomorrow by noon. After that, plaintiffs will have four hours to file their reply ahead of a hearing Friday at 3:30pm, where the judge said she will officially rule on the motion.Ashley BelangerSenior Policy ReporterAshley BelangerSenior Policy Reporter Ashley is a senior policy reporter for Ars Technica, dedicated to tracking social impacts of emerging policies and new technologies. She is a Chicago-based journalist with 20 years of experience. 63 Comments