A federal district court judge in the Southern District of New York issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury Department payment systems containing sensitive personal data including Social Security numbers and bank account information for millions of Americans. The judge found that DOGE access had been granted in a "chaotic and haphazard manner" that violated federal law.
The court ordered that anyone who had been given access to the sensitive information since January 20 must immediately destroy all copies of material downloaded from Treasury Department systems. The ruling was the first major judicial check on DOGE's aggressive push to access government data systems, establishing a pattern of court intervention that would recur throughout 2025 as DOGE sought access to agencies across the federal government. The administration appealed, and the legal battle over Treasury access continued for months.