A New York federal judge has partially reversed a ruling that barred President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing sensitive payment data at the Treasury Department.
In a late Friday opinion, U.S. District Judge Jeanette A. Vargas granted one DOGE employee access to sensitive payment information at the Treasury Department. The worker, Ryan Wunderly, will have to go through the same training as other federal employees.
Wunderly will also be required to submit a financial disclosure report as part of the updated preliminary injunction.
The decision comes after a group of 19 Democratic state attorneys general, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, sued the Trump administration in February, claiming that DOGE’s access to financial data was an invasion of privacy.
In the lawsuit, the officials claimed that political appointees should not have access to the records, which included Social Security and bank account information.
The commission, led by tech billionaire and senior adviser Elon Musk, argued that access was required to modernize payment systems in light of the president’s efforts to overhaul the federal workforce and reduce government spending.
In a previous opinion, Vargas upheld restrictions imposed by a separate federal judge that prohibited political appointees and special government appointees, such as Musk, from accessing private data. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other department leaders whose positions required Senate confirmation were notable exceptions.
The decision dealt a blow to the Justice Department, which had pressed U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer to lift his ban, which was more extensive than the previous agreement reached by the administration to temporarily limit access to two DOGE personnel: Marko Elez and Tom Krause.
When Elez resigned after being linked to racist social media posts, the Trump administration announced that Wunderly would replace him.
In a March court filing, the administration stated that Wunderly’s expertise was “critical to the Treasury DOGE Team’s efforts,” and that he had received proper training.
Elez has since been reinstated at DOGE.
