A federal judge refused Tuesday to immediately block billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing government data systems or participating in worker layoffs.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan found that there are legitimate questions about Musk's authority but said there isn't enough evidence of grave legal harm to justify a temporary restraining order.

The decision came in a lawsuit filed by 14 Democratic states challenging DOGE’s authority to access sensitive government data. The attorneys general argued that Musk is wielding the kind of power that the Constitution says can be held only by those elected or confirmed by the Senate.

The Trump administration has maintained that layoffs are coming from agency heads and asserted that despite his public cheering of the effort, Musk isn't running DOGE's day-to-day operations himself.

DOGE has tapped into computer systems across multiple agencies with the blessing of President Donald Trump, digging into budgets and searching for what he calls waste, fraud and abuse, even as a growing number of lawsuits allege DOGE is violating the law.

Chutkan recognized the concerns of the states, which include New Mexico and Arizona.

“DOGE’s unpredictable actions have resulted in considerable uncertainty and confusion," she wrote. Their questions about Musk's apparent “unchecked authority” and lack of congressional oversight for DOGE are legitimate and they may be able to successfully argue them later, she found.

Still, at this point, it remains unclear exactly how DOGE's work will affect the states, and judges can only issue orders to block specific, immediate harms, she found.

Chutkan, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, previously oversaw the now-dismissed criminal election interference case against Trump in Washington, D.C.

The states' lawsuit seeks to bar DOGE from the federal Office of Personnel Management and the departments of Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, Energy, Transportation and Commerce.

In other DOGE lawsuits, two other judges in Washington have similarly declined to immediately block DOGE from access to agency systems. A federal judge in New York has blocked DOGE’s access to Treasury Department data for now.

First Published February 18, 2025, 10:50 p.m.