On February 14th, Letitia James, the Attorney General of New York, led a coalition of 11 other state attorneys general in issuing a joint statement regarding lawsuits filed against the Trump administration. The lawsuits accuse the administration of illegally granting access to Elon Musk and members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to access the private information of American citizens.
According to James, “Last week, Elon Musk and his team gained unauthorized access to the national central payment system of the Treasury Department, obtaining tens of millions of Americans’ social security numbers, bank account information, and other private data. In order to protect our residents, we have filed a lawsuit to stop this reckless behavior. Just hours later, we obtained a court order prohibiting Musk and DOGE from accessing personal information of Americans and requiring them to destroy all records they have obtained.”
Elon Musk may be the wealthiest person in the world, but the law clearly states: he has no authority to access your private information. The Constitution grants control over federal spending primarily to Congress, not the President.”
On February 7th, Letitia James led 18 state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit demanding that the Trump administration cease unauthorized disclosure of Americans’ private information. Their lawsuit argues that allowing Musk and DOGE members access to the Treasury Department’s central payment system is illegal.
On the morning of February 8th, a federal judge in the Southern District of New York approved a temporary restraining order filed by Letitia James, prohibiting Musk and DOGE employees from accessing Americans’ most sensitive personal information and ordering them to immediately destroy all record copies.
The state attorneys general who joined Letitia James in the statement on the 14th hailed from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Oregon.