A US federal judge ruled that the new Department of Government Efficiency, led by the American billionaire and entrepreneur Elon Musk, can continue to have access to sensitive databases of three federal agencies, BNR reported.
With this decision, Judge John Bates of Washington rejected the request to block access to the Elon Musk team, to the information registers of the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, filed by a group of unions and non-governmental organizations. The judge's reasoning for ensuring access to information for employees says that in the eyes of the law, the Department of Government Efficiency should be considered an "agency"
Yesterday, another federal judge, this time in Manhattan, New York, said he would extend a ban on certain employees of the Office of Government Efficiency to access Treasury Department records, as well as various payment systems, while he considers whether to issue a preliminary injunction for the entire department. The decision is expected to be made next week.
The Office of Government Efficiency has become a hot topic in the United States after its employees requested access to the systems of various federal agencies to check how American taxpayer money is being spent, as well as to check how effectively the administration, some of which are likely to be cut, is working. This has prompted a wave of lawsuits, some of which rely on the argument that the Office of Government Efficiency is not a federal agency, but was created by an executive order of Donald Trump, which calls into question the legal grounds for its employees to have access to protected information.