On Wednesday evening, the Department of Justice moved significantly toward limiting the overreaching power of the Trump administration’s appointees when it proposed an order to restrict the Treasury Department from sharing sensitive financial data with the Department of Government Efficiency. The move comes amid sweeping changes approved by the President and proposed by Musk to overhaul established financial institutions such as USAID and the Department of Education.
A federal judge issued the Department of Justice an ultimatum – either agree to a temporary injunction to block DOGE’s access to sensitive financial information, or the judge would file a restraining order against the entire department. The ruling came after federal unions alleged that Musk’s new department had illegally sensitive data from the Treasury Department, including names, birthdays, and social security numbers. Representatives for DOGE could not justify their access to sensitive information, but they argued that DOGE sets high-level policies for the executive branch.
Throughout the exchange between the judge and members of the Department of Justice, it became clear that nobody, not even Elon Musk, has a concrete idea as to what DOGE is able and obligated to do. Trump’s introduction of the new department appeared to be a vanity gift to Musk, a repayment for funding his latest campaign. It then seemed to be a way for Trump to shift some of the burden of the executive office into the hands of a man who could never legally hold so much power in the country by allowing him access to sensitive information and relying on his input to determine which federal programs should be cut to improve national spending.
The move to restrict Musk and his department’s access to private information of American citizens is, admittedly, miniscule. The injunction is only temporary and must be renegotiated by February 24. However, the Department of Justice has now begun to ask the question on so many Americans’ minds: how is it legal for a foreign billionaire to determine how much America spends on aid to an increasing number of financially struggling citizens?
