A U.S. federal judge recently denied a request from Democratic attorneys general to temporarily block the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing federal data systems of seven different agencies.

The lawsuit sought to prevent DOGE from accessing federal data within multiple agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Education, the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Energy, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Commerce.

Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the states failed to demonstrate “imminent, irreparable harm” requiring a temporary restraining order. 

“The court’s analysis here begins and ends with irreparable harm, ‘a threshold requirement in granting temporary injunctive relief. Plaintiffs have not adequately linked Defendants’ actions to imminent harm to Plaintiff States in particular. On the record before it, the court cannot conclude that Plaintiffs satisfy the ‘high standard for irreparable injury,’” wrote Judge Chutkan in Tuesday’s ruling.

The attorneys general argued that Musk’s deployment of DOGE surrogates to examine federal systems violated the Constitution’s appointments clause, as he was neither nominated by the president nor confirmed by the Senate.

DOGE was recently granted access to financial data from the Treasury Department and found that approximately $2.7 trillion remains inaccessible.

As a result, the Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General has initiated an audit following DOGE’s access to sensitive data stored by the Bureau of Fiscal Service.