Constitutional questions remained unanswered as a judge clarified a temporary restraining order impacting access to the Treasury Department’s payment systems.
Under the pretense of concern that Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency might use private information for an unsavory end, 19 Democratic state attorneys general filed suit to block the advisory group’s access to the Treasury. After the ruling of an Obama-appointed judge appeared to include a prohibition on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a Biden-appointed judge dispelled that notion.
“To the extent the language of the February 8 [Temporary Restraining Order] could be read to place such senior officials within the intended scope of the Order, the Court grants the motion to modify the February 8 TRO to clarify that the Secretary of the Treasury and other Senate-confirmed senior Treasury Officers are not prohibited from accessing Treasury’s payment systems,” ruled U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas on Tuesday.
Responding to an emergency motion to vacate the decision of U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer filed by President Donald Trump’s Justice Department, Vargas indicated, “More fundamentally, there are no allegations in the Complaint suggesting that access to Treasury payment systems by such senior Treasury officials poses a threat of disclosure of sensitive and confidential information, or that their access would result in systems that would be more vulnerable to hacking, the harms that animated the grant of the February 8 TRO.”
The same was not said for the remaining restrictions from the order on “political appointees” that prompted an outcry from Vice President J.D. Vance, Musk, and more.
“If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal,” asserted the vice president. “If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal. Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”
Likewise, Musk expressed amid the outcry, “A corrupt judge protecting corruption. He needs to be impeached NOW!”
Musk wants ‘corrupt judge protecting corruption’ impeached: ‘Treasury Secretary CANNOT access any data from the treasury?’ https://t.co/ThpFylrzoI
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) February 10, 2025
As the Trump administration was also facing lawsuits challenging DOGE’s access to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Department of Education, Department of Labor, and Office of Personnel Management, the filing from the DOJ contended, “No court can issue an injunction that directly severs the clear line of supervision Article II requires.”
“The government is aware of no example of a court ever trying to micromanage an agency in this way, or sever the political supervision of the Executive Branch in such a manner,” read the filing. “This Court should not be the first.”
Meanwhile, attempts to downplay the limitations on Bessent only supported the claim of the Justice Department as the Washington Post’s Aaron Blake agreed with National Review’s Ed Whelan who contended, “On further review, I have deleted a tweet in which I stated that I found it astounding that Engelmayer’s order (as I read it) prohibited even the Treasury Secretary from accessing the payment system.”
“Given that the Treasury Secretary is a defendant in the case, I now think the order is better read as barring him from giving (allegedly) unauthorized persons access to the system. Whether or not that order is sound, it’s not what I initially thought it was,” added Whelan prompting suggestions that it remained a constitutional issue.
I think Ed is right about this:https://t.co/UwlKkvkEIs
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) February 9, 2025
But… the Treasury Secretary is the one who authorizes access to those systems, right? The order is still at odds with Article II. How can a court tell a Cabinet official they cannot exercise the authority delegated to them by the Unitary Executive which they plainly have full…
— E__Strobel (@WitCoHE_Bak) February 10, 2025
As for the constitutional questions at hand, Vargas left those to be addressed at the hearing scheduled for Feb. 14.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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