State AGs: Court Should Uphold Preliminary Injunction in DOGE Treasury Case
New York and 19 other states Friday opposed the federal government's motion to partially dissolve a preliminary injunction in a case about Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) unauthorized access to sensitive information of Americans within the Treasury Department. The state AGs said the U.S. District Court for Southern New York should deny the motion because the defendants didn't fully address the court's concerns.
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“Despite the Court’s repeated concern over the rushed nature of the onboarding process for Treasury DOGE Team members, Defendants continue to offer the same ‘artificial sense of urgency’ the Court previously held does ‘not justify the flawed process that occurred here,’” the states said. “Moreover, even if Defendants had meaningfully addressed the Court’s concerns over the 'chaotic and haphazard' launch of the Treasury DOGE Team (which they have not done), the Court should still deny their motion because they fail to provide an adequate explanation for the drastic change to longstanding Treasury policy."
That same day, the federal government opposed the states' motion for the court to reconsider its zone-of-interest ruling that the states’ injury did not fall under what would be protected by the Privacy Act of 1974. The defendants alleged that the plaintiffs do not meet the necessary strict standard and that their arguments are meritless.
“Plaintiffs do not point to any intervening change of controlling law, or new evidence or data,” said the government. “Nor do Plaintiffs even address the reconsideration standard. Rather, their motion is a transparent attempt at a 'second bite at the apple,' in which they offer arguments and theories not previously presented to the Court.”
Case 25-01144 began when New York led 18 states in filing a complaint on Feb. 7 against the Trump administration to stop the allegedly unauthorized access to private information of Americans by Elon Musk and DOGE (see Ref:2502070050]). Trump opposed the injunction on Feb. 11 (see 2502120036), but the court granted the preliminary injunction on Feb. 21 (see 2502240008).