Judge to rule swiftly on effort to block DOGE from assessing data, firing federal employees

WASHINGTON: A federal judge on Monday questioned the authority of billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency but was skeptical of a request to block DOGE from accessing sensitive data and firing employees at half a dozen federal agencies. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan held a hearing on a request from 14 states for a temporary restraining order seeking to curtail Musk's power in President Donald Trump's quest to downsize the federal government. The states are seeking to block DOGE from firing employees and accessing data at the federal Office of Personnel Management along with six federal agencies that oversee health and human services, education, energy, transportation, labor, and commerce. The federal government countered that DOGE is acting in an advisory role, they don't need Senate confirmation to access data, and that the states hadn't shown Musk's hunt for waste and fraud had harmed them.