"DOGE has no authority": Attorneys general plan to sue to block Musk's data access

Representatives of more than a dozen states said they hope to DOGE's "unacceptable" federal rampage

Published February 6, 2025 9:08PM (EST)

Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of Twitter, Elon Musk attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre on June 16, 2023 in Paris, France.  (Chesnot/Getty Images)
Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of Twitter, Elon Musk attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre on June 16, 2023 in Paris, France. (Chesnot/Getty Images)

Attorneys general representing over a dozen states announced their intention to sue the Trump administration on Thursday, claiming Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency had no right to access the federal government’s most sensitive records.

“This level of access for unauthorized individuals is unlawful, unprecedented, and unacceptable. DOGE has no authority to access this information,” the AGs shared in a statement. “In defense of our Constitution, our right to privacy, and the essential funding that individuals and communities nationwide are counting on, we will be filing a lawsuit to stop this injustice.”

The planned legal action comes amid reports that Musk and his lackeys have accessed wage and Social Security disbursement systems inside the Treasury Department and financial aid data inside the Department of Education containing millions of students’ personal information.

In their statement, the attorneys general expressed horror that that a handful of young, unqualified, and unvetted staffers were being granted access to "some of our country's most sensitive data.”

The Trump administration suffered a partial defeat in court on Thursday when a judge ruled that only two DOGE staffers could access Treasury Department payment systems, and deprived those two staffers of the ability to make changes to those records. One of those staffers has since resigned after news outlets uncovered their past bigoted social media posts.

Still, state representatives say the initiative’s wide reach needs to be stopped.

“This administrative coup of the federal government has upended the lives and livelihoods of thousands of faithful public servants,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a video on Thursday, claiming Arizonans flooded her phone lines with privacy concerns. “We cannot allow this illegal and reckless chaos from the Trump administration to stand.”


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