A judge orders the immediate cessation of Doge access to the Treasury Payment System

In the first hour on Saturday, a federal judge temporarily restricted the access of the Elon Musk government efficiency program to the payment and data systems of the Treasury Department, stating that there was a risk of “irreparable damage”.

Trump’s new government policy to allow access to designated politicians and “special employees of the government” to these systems, which contain very sensitive information such as banking data, increases the risk of leaks and that the systems are more vulnerable than before to Computer attacks, said US district judge, Paul A. Engelmayer, in an emergency order.

Judge Engelmayer ordered any of those officials who would have been granted access to the systems since January 20 that “destroyed each and every one of the copies of the material discharged from the records and systems of the Treasury Department.” He also restricted that Trump’s government gave access to those categories of officials.

The defendants – President Trump, the Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Besunt, and the Treasury Department – must appear on February 14 before Judge Jeannette A. Vargas, who takes the case permanently, Judge Engelmayer said.

The situation could raise a fundamental evidence for the rule of American law. If the government does not comply with the emergency order, it is not clear how it could be applied. The Constitution says that a president “will ensure the faithful fulfillment of the laws”, but the courts have rarely been tested by a chief of the Executive who has ignored his orders.