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The Trump administration is challenging a federal court order blocking the government’s efficiency agency from accessing U.S. Treasury records. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer issued a temporary restraining order on Saturday, barring the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from having “access to Treasury Department payment systems or any other data maintained by the Treasury Department containing personally identifiable information.”

DOGE has been tasked by President Donald Trump with investigating and auditing federal agencies and departments in order to identify and eliminate wasteful spending and fraud. Last week, the agency gained access to Treasury Department payment system records after Acting Treasury Secretary David Lebryk, a 35-year Treasury bureaucracy veteran who had been blocking DOGE’s access, was placed on leave.

However, a coalition of 19 Democratic attorneys general — representing the states of New York, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin — filed a complaint asking that DOGE continue to be denied access to the Treasury.

Engelmayer received the Democrats’ complaint and, without seeking arguments from the president and his attorneys, temporarily blocked the president “from granting to political appointees, special government employees, and any government employee detailed from an agency outside the Treasury Department access to Treasury…”

The judge further ordered that Trump and his administration be “restrained from granting access to any Treasury Department payment record, payment systems, or any other data systems maintained by the Treasury Department containing personally identifiable information and/or confidential financial information of payees” to anyone outside the Treasury’s Bureau of Fiscal Services and “restrained from granting access” to any such records to “all political appointees, special government employees, and government employees detailed from an agency outside the Treasury Department…” The order also demands that DOGE employees who have already been granted access to Treasury records destroy all copies they have obtained of those records.

Undemocratic

The Trump administration was given until Tuesday evening to file a response, with the Democratic attorneys general being given until Thursday evening to file a follow-up response. However, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) submitted a response almost immediately, asking for the order to be dissolved.

“On its face, the Order could be read to cover all political leadership within Treasury — including even [Treasury] Secretary [Scott] Bessent. This is a remarkable intrusion on the Executive Branch that is in direct conflict with Article II of the Constitution, and the unitary structure it provides,” the DOJ memorandum stated.

It continued, “There is not and cannot be a basis for distinguishing between ‘civil servants’ and ‘political appointees.’ Basic democratic accountability requires that every executive agency’s work be supervised by politically accountable leadership, who ultimately answer to the President.”

“A federal court, consistent with the separation of powers, cannot insulate any portion of that work from the specter of political accountability,” the DOJ explained.

“No court can issue an injunction that directly severs the clear line of supervision Article II requires. Because the Order on its face draws an impermissible and anti-constitutional distinction, it should be dissolved immediately.”

Although the agency conceded that the Trump administration is “in compliance with” the court order and its stipulations, Trump and his allies have vowed to combat the court’s overreach and even hinted at the possibility of ignoring the court’s order if it is not dissolved or adjusted in a timely manner.

When asked about the court order on Sunday, Trump himself said, “We’re talking about fraud, waste, abuse, and when a president can’t look for fraud and waste and abuse, we don’t have a country anymore.” He added, “We’re very disappointed with the judges that would make such a ruling.”

Vice President J.D. Vance issued a stern statement on the subject over social media. “If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal,” he observed. He concluded, “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”

White House deputy chief of staff and top Trump policy advisor Stephen Miller called Engelmayer “a radical left judge” in an interview Sunday. He said of the court order, “This isn’t just unconstitutional. That ruling is an assault on the very idea of democracy itself.” He continued,

“Donald Trump is engaging in the most important restoration of democracy in over a century by saying that we are going to restore power to the people through their elected president and his appointed officers.”

Miller added, “That is the only way we can have true democracy in this country.” The Trump counsellor continued,

“But this nonsense where we have rogue, unelected, unaccountable, and previously un-fire-able bureaucrats who do whatever the hell they want with no one telling them and no one controlling them, we’re not going to let that happen anymore.”

Commenting on the controversial court order, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) declared, “The elected president of the United States should be allowed to function as such.” He continued, “No federal court should replace the president’s team with Deep State bureaucrats.”

Trump ally and Article III Project founder Mike Davis, commented, “These DC uniparty judges are shockingly insulated from Real Americans in Real America. They are arrogant and delusional enough to believe they are saving America from Trump.” He added, “Even though Trump campaigned on doing precisely what he’s doing. And won a decisive electoral mandate.”

In comments published by The New York Times, Davis clarified, “President Trump is not stealing other branches’ powers.” He continued to say that Trump “is exercising his Article II powers under the Constitution. And judges who say he can’t? They’re legally wrong. The Supreme Court is going to side with Trump.”

Necessary Audit

Despite the complaints of Democrats, several department heads in the federal government have welcomed DOGE’s efforts to identify and eliminate waste and fraud. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem insisted on Sunday that she is “absolutely” comfortable with DOGE auditing DHS records. “This is essentially an audit of the federal government, which is very powerful and needs to have happened,” she said, adding that American citizens “can’t trust our government anymore” after years of waste and fraud being covered up.

Department of Defense (DOD) Secretary Pete Hegseth also welcomed DOGE audits in a Sunday interview, adding that Trump is “correct that American taxpayers deserve to know exactly how and where their money is spent.” He stated, “We welcome Elon Musk and DOGE coming into our department to help us identify additional ways in which we can streamline costs, fast-track acquisitions, cut waste, cut tail to put it to tooth.”

Hegseth continued, “We know in a world where America is $37 trillion in debt, resources will not be unlimited. Every dollar we can find that isn’t being spent wisely is one we can put toward warfighters. So we welcome DOGE at DOD. We will partner with them, and it’s long overdue.”

Prior to the fracas surrounding its audit of the Treasury, DOGE has investigated several other federal agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which Trump ordered almost completely shut down after the DOGE team discovered and exposed rampant waste and the funding of left-wing projects and programs across the globe. Trump announced last week that DOGE will also audit the Pentagon and the Department of Education. Shortly afterwards, DOGE chief Elon Musk announced, without elaborating further, that the Department of Education “no longer exists.”