A Federal judge on Friday rejected a request to block the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the Treasury Department’s payment systems.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied the request from a coalition of labor organizations, saying that the plaintiffs’ concerns “are understandable and no doubt widely shared.” However, the judge said the plaintiffs failed to show they would face “irreparable injury” if the DOGE employees gained access to those Treasury systems.
“If Plaintiffs could show that Defendants imminently planned to make their private information public or to share that information with individuals outside the Federal government with no obligation to maintain its confidentiality, the Court would not hesitate to find a likelihood of irreparable harm,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her memorandum opinion. “But on the present record, Plaintiffs have not shown that Defendants have such a plan.”
“If circumstances change, Plaintiffs are free to return to Federal court to seek any proper emergency remedy,” she added.
Kollar-Kotelly also dissolved the court’s interim order that she approved on Feb. 6, which temporarily restricted DOGE’s access to the Treasury systems.
The previous order restricted the defendants from providing access to “any payment record or payment system of records maintained by or within the Bureau of the Fiscal Service.”
However, the order allowed two DOGE-affiliated employees at the time – Tom Krause and Marko Elez – to continue seeing department data. Their access to the payment records was limited to “read only.”
While Kollar-Kotelly’s decision represents a win for the Trump administration, there is still a court ruling in place that restricts DOGE’s access to the Treasury Department’s payment systems.
Judge Jeannette A. Vargas of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued an order on Feb. 21 that extends a block on DOGE from accessing the systems.
The preliminary injunction Vargas issued prohibits anyone affiliated with DOGE or the Treasury DOGE team from accessing Federal payment systems until further notice.
However, Vargas is giving the Trump administration an opportunity to lift the block eventually. She ordered the Treasury Department to submit a report by March 24 that details whether DOGE employees have been adequately vetted and trained to access the financial systems.
The report must also detail “the mitigation procedures that have been developed to minimize any threats resulting from increased access” by the DOGE team to the payment systems.
