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Judge extends block on Musk's DOGE accessing Treasury

systems

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Democratic attorneys general challenge Musk's legal

authority

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Some 70 lawsuits have been filed challenging Trump

initiatives

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Most Trump initiatives that have been legally challenged

have

been blocked by courts

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Trump administration defends DOGE's oversight role in

government

systems

(Updates throughout with details from four court hearings)

By Luc Cohen and Tom Hals

NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - A federal judge extended a

block on Elon Musk's government cost-cutting team known as DOGE

from accessing payment systems at the U.S. Treasury Department

on Friday, as Democratic state officials and unions turned to

the courts to slow the billionaire's efforts.

The Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency has swept

through federal agencies since Republican Donald Trump became

president last month and put the chief executive of carmaker

Tesla in charge of rooting out wasteful spending as

part of Trump's dramatic overhaul of government, which included

thousands of job cuts on Friday.

In Manhattan, U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas extended

a temporary block on DOGE that was put in place on Saturday,

which prevented Musk's team from accessing Treasury systems

responsible for trillions of dollars of payments.

The judge said at a court hearing that she would not yet

rule on a request from 19 Democratic state attorneys general for

a longer-lasting preliminary injunction on DOGE's access to the

systems.

The case by the attorneys general is one of at least 20

related to efforts to slash the size of the government. Around

70 lawsuits have been filed challenging Trump initiatives, from

ending birthright citizenship to limiting federal funding for

transgender health treatments, and many policies have been

blocked by courts.

The attorneys general alleged that Musk's team has no legal

power to access the payment systems that contain sensitive

personal information on millions of Americans and that Musk and

his team could disrupt funding for health clinics, preschools

and other programs.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for

comment. Musk and other Trump allies have called for judges to

be impeached in response to rulings against his DOGE team,

although the president said he would obey court orders.

At three other court hearings on Friday, judges declined to

rule immediately on requests to block or extend orders barring

the DOGE team access to government systems.

U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss considered a request by

the University of California Student Association to extend a

temporary block on DOGE from accessing systems at the Department

of Education, which the students said would violate privacy and

administrative procedure laws.

The judge, an appointee of Democratic former President

Barack Obama, said he would issue a decision by Monday.

The Trump administration has said that access is crucial to

allow DOGE to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in student loan

programs at a department that the president and Musk say should

be eliminated.

"What does that mean, fraud, waste and abuse?" Moss asked a

Justice Department attorney at the hearing. "I expect if you ask

Elon Musk, he would say the entire Department of Education is

waste."

U.S. District Judge John Bates in Washington heard arguments

by unions to prevent the DOGE team from accessing sensitive

records at the Department of Health and Human Services, the

Labor Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

He described the government's position as "odd" that DOGE

was not a government agency when it came to an open records law

but it was under a statute that allowed its staff to work at

various government departments.

Bates did not say when he would rule.

A group of Democratic attorneys general sued Musk, Trump and

DOGE on Thursday, alleging that Musk's appointment was

unconstitutional and asked a federal judge to bar him from

accessing and using government data, cancelling contracts or

making personnel decisions.

At a hearing in that case on Friday, U.S. District Judge

Tanya Chutkan in Washington was skeptical of the states'

request and Chutkan did not say when she would rule.

Most of Trump's initiatives that have been legally

challenged have been blocked by the courts. Most of the

cost-cutting campaign appears to be focused on programs opposed

by political conservatives.