A team from the Department of Government Efficiency can now access a sensitive Treasury Department system that controls trillions of dollars in federal payments, a judge ruled late Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas gave permission for four DOGE employees to access the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which essentially serves as the checkbook for the federal government.
Vargas said she would no longer require the Trump administration to get permission from the court before expanding access to other DOGE representatives.
The ruling marks a win for the Trump administration and DOGE, which caused a legal firestorm in February when it tried to get access to the Treasury Department’s payment systems.
In yesterday’s ruling, she said the Trump administration had established a system to train employees to prevent improper disclosures.
Late on Tuesday, a judge decided to grant a team from the Department of Government Efficiency access to a sensitive Treasury Department system that manages trillions of dollars in federal payments.
U. A. Four DOGE employees were authorized by District Judge Jeannette Vargas to access the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which functions as the federal government’s checkbook. Vargas declared that she would not wait for the court’s approval before granting access to additional DOGE officials to the Trump administration.
The decision represents a victory for DOGE and the Trump administration, which sparked a legal battle in February when it attempted to gain access to the payment systems used by the Treasury Department. Vargas temporarily barred their access in February after a group of Democratic attorneys general filed a lawsuit to do so, but he allowed DOGE to develop a system that would access the data under the proper guidelines and training.
Vargas gave one DOGE employee access to the system in April. She claimed in yesterday’s decision that the Trump administration had put in place a system to train staff members to avoid making inappropriate disclosures. As long as the staff members received the appropriate training, the attorneys general had no problem granting DOGE access.
“This Court acting as Treasury’s de facto HR officer every time a new team member is brought on board is not very useful,” Vargas stated.
