New York and 18 other states sue Trump administration over DOGE access to federal systems

New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit with 18 other state attorneys general Friday against the Trump administration over the Department of Government Efficiency program, accusing DOGE of engaging in unauthorized access to sensitive information that includes Americans’ data on federal computer systems at the Treasury Department. 

Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin joined the suit, as DOGE continues its sweep through the federal government, demanding access and information, some of it sensitive. 

The lawsuit asks a judge to grant a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration, alleging a violation of the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Tax Reform Act of 1976, as well as other laws. The lawsuit also argues that DOGE’s access poses cybersecurity risks. 

“Nineteen States bring this action against Treasury, the Treasury Secretary, and the President to put an end to this new dangerous expanded access policy,” the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York reads.

“In the past week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has given Elon Musk access to Americans’ personal private information, state bank account data, and other information that is some of our country’s most sensitive data,” James said in a statement prior to the lawsuit’s filing. 

However, the Treasury Department has said that DOGE only has “read only” access to its systems and cannot affect expenditures, according to a letter a department official sent to Congress Wednesday.

CBS News has reached out to the White House for comment on the lawsuit.   

DOGE, a Trump administration task force assigned to find ways to reduce federal spending, now has access to a Treasury unit called the Bureau of the Fiscal Services, which disburses trillions in payments each year, including Social Security checks and federal salaries, according to The Associated Press.

According to the lawsuit, prior to DOGE receiving access, “only a limited number of career civil servants at BFS with appropriate security clearance had access to the BFS payment systems.”

Since Feb. 2, however, the lawsuit states that, at the direction of the president and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the Treasury “adopted and began implementing a new policy that grants expanded access to BFS payment systems to political appointees and ‘special government employees’ (‘SGEs’) for reasons that have yet to be adequately explained.”

That is in reference to Musk’s categorization by the White House as a special government employee.  

“As the richest man in the world, Elon Musk is not used to being told ‘no,’ but in our country, no one is above the law. The president does not have the power to give away our private information to anyone he chooses, and he cannot cut federal payments approved by Congress,” James said in her previous statement. “This level of access for unauthorized individuals is unlawful, unprecedented, and unacceptable. DOGE has no authority to access this information, which they explicitly sought in order to block critical payments that millions of Americans rely on — payments that support health care, childcare, and other essential programs.”  

contributed to this report.

Ed O’Keefe

Ed O’Keefe is CBS News senior White House and political correspondent. He previously worked for The Washington Post covering presidential campaigns, Congress and federal agencies. His primary focus is on President Biden, Vice President Harris and political issues across the country.