(NewsNation) — Several key court rulings on whether the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency can access the personal information of tens of millions of Americans could come to pass as early as Tuesday evening.
Democratic attorneys general from 14 states are seeking a temporary restraining order to stop Elon Musk and his DOGE team from accessing sensitive data and firing employees at half a dozen federal agencies.
DOGE is also seeking access to IRS systems that contain the private financial data of just about every American who’s ever paid taxes or received a refund. That data includes banking details, Social Security numbers and employment information.
Because DOGE is so new and so different in its operation, a lot of the questions about what it is and is not legally allowed to do are going to be decided in the courts.
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The legal complaints are attempting to stop or limit the mass firing of workers in federal agencies and to limit DOGE’s access to American taxpayers’ data from the IRS and Treasury databases.
Musk has defended DOGE’s authority and says DOGE must access the data to continue its mission. District court judge for the District of Columbia, Tanya Chutkan, is expected to make a ruling Tuesday.
DOGE posted on its website that it has saved $55 billion in waste or fraud. Some of what is listed is still being held up in court.
It lists some half a billion dollars of savings within the Department of Education that are proposed cuts that have not been carried out. It lists another $144 million related to real estate leases it says will eventually be brought back.
