A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Monday hinted she might not throw up immediate roadblocks to Elon Musk's infiltration of the nation's government agencies, where he and his team have accessed sensitive data and enacted a flurry of firings.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said at a hearing Monday that she needed to see more evidence of imminent harm before she granted a request by a group of states for a temporary restraining order to stop Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency team from entering federal agency data systems and prohibited their making personnel decisions about federal employees.
Chutkan told an attorney for the states that she found the potential harm of DOGE's actions "concerning" and "troubling, indeed," but that she needed to see more specifics aside from “a generalized fear that this is going to happen.”
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At the same time, Chutkan called out a Justice Department lawyer for failing to confirm whether thousands of federal employees had been fired since Friday and what additional firings were planned in the next two weeks. She asked the lawyer to investigate that and report back to her.
“DOGE’s actions in this arena have been very unpredictable and scattershot,” she said, adding that she didn’t know whether DOGE’s unpredictability was “by design or because of the scope of their remit.”
Chutkan said she aimed to issue a decision on the states' request within 24 hours.
At a hearing Friday, Chutkan likewise declined to back a request by the states for a temporary restraining order, saying the relief they sought was too broad.
Thousands of federal employees have been placed on leave or fired in recent weeks. They include nearly 300 employees with the Federal Aviation Administration who were fired over the weekend, according to an employees' union; hundreds of employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including fellows responsible for key public health roles; Transportation Department workers; Department of Homeland Security employees; and immigration judges, among others.
