Judge Appears Unlikely To Rule Against DOGE Access

Politico reports:

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Monday appeared poised to reject an effort to immediately bar Elon Musk and his allies from accessing data or causing firings across a broad swath of the federal government. The judge said an effort by Democrat-led states lacked enough concrete evidence to justify that extraordinary restriction. Chutkan agreed that Musk’s operations through the “Department of Government Efficiency” were taking place in troubling secrecy.

And she acknowledged that DOGE is operating so swiftly that it is difficult to reach quick conclusions about the legality of its moves. “DOGE appears to be moving in no sort of predictable and orderly fashion and plaintiffs are obviously scrambling to find out what’s next,” Chutkan said. But the judge said granting the temporary restraining order sought as part of a lawsuit brought by Democratic attorneys general required much clearer evidence that DOGE’s actions were causing grave, permanent damage.

Read the full article.

BREAKING 🚨 🚨 🚨

Judge seems unwilling to immediately bar Musk from meddling in federal agencies

Blue states have not provided enough initial evidence to justify a temporary restraining order, Judge Tanya Chutkan said at a court hearing.

www.politico.com/news/2025/02…

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— Lauren Ashley Davis (@laurenmeidasa.bsky.social) February 17, 2025 at 1:13 PM