Attorney General Keith Ellison has successfully secured a preliminary injunction against Elon Musk and his "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) to prevent unauthorized access to private information of Americans. This decision comes as part of an ongoing lawsuit initiated by Ellison and 18 other attorneys general against the Trump administration.
Ellison expressed satisfaction with the court's decision, stating, "Today, my fellow attorneys general and I blocked the world’s richest man and his cronies from accessing sensitive, private, and heavily restricted data on the American people. We also made sure Musk cannot weaponize the Treasury Department’s central payment against the American people."
The legal action began on February 7 when Ellison and his coalition filed a lawsuit claiming that unauthorized access was granted to Musk and DOGE by the Trump administration. The following day, a federal judge in New York issued a temporary restraining order preventing this access.
Judge Jeannette Vargas has now extended this protection through a preliminary injunction while the lawsuit is underway. This move bars government employees like Musk from accessing the Treasury's central payment system.
The coalition supporting Ellison includes attorneys general from states such as Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.