NEW YORK, Feb 18 (Reuters) -

Donald Trump's administration scored a victory on Tuesday

when a judge ruled in its favor in a challenge by a group of

state to the authority of the Republican president's chief

government cost-cutter Elon Musk.

Washington-based U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan made the

ruling in a lawsuit by Democratic attorneys general from 14

states who argued that Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO,

lacks legal authority to direct the mass firing of federal

employees or access sensitive government computer systems.

The attorneys general argued that their ability to carry out

educational and other programs were at risk. They accused Musk's

team of unlawfully accessing data at federal agencies and

directing a purge of the 2.3 million-strong federal workforce.

The lawsuit was filed by more than a dozen states and announced

by state attorneys general from New Mexico, Michigan and Arizona

were the ones who announced the lawsuit.

Musk spearheads an entity called the Department of

Government Efficiency, or DOGE. It has swept through federal

agencies slashing thousands of jobs and dismantling various

programs since Trump returned to office last month and put Musk

in charge of rooting out wasteful spending as part of the

president's dramatic overhaul of government.

The state attorneys general have argued that Musk wields the

kind of power that can be exercised only by an officer of the

government who has been nominated by the president and confirmed

by the U.S. Senate under language in the U.S. Constitution

called the Appointments Clause. The states also have said DOGE

itself has not been authorized by Congress.

The lawsuit seeks to bar DOGE from accessing information

systems at the departments of labor, education, health and human

services, energy, transportation and commerce, and at the Office

of Personnel Management.

They also asked Chutkan, who was appointed by Democratic

former President Barack Obama, to prevent Musk and his DOGE team

members from firing federal employees or putting them on leave.

An attorney for the administration told Chutkan on February

14 that he had not been able to confirm mass government layoffs

took place.

Around 20 lawsuits have been filed in various federal courts

challenging Musk's authority, which have led to mixed results.

U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas in New York extended a

temporary block on DOGE on Friday that prevented Musk's team

from accessing Treasury systems responsible for trillions of

dollars of payments.

But also on Friday, U.S. District Judge John Bates in

Washington declined a request by unions and nonprofits to

temporarily block Musk's team from accessing records at the

departments of Labor, and Health and Human Services, as well as

the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Most of the judges handling DOGE cases have not yet issued

rulings.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware and Jack Queen

in New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Michael Perry

)