The Department of Government Efficiency scored a win on Tuesday when a federal judge rejected an effort by 14 Democratic attorneys general to restrict the authority of the cost-cutting agency. 

The order, issued by U.S. District Judge, Tanya Chutkan, shut down the attorneys general’s request for an order barring DOGE from accessing federal data systems at seven agencies and firing government employees. Their lawsuit accuses President Trump of violating the Constitution’s appointment clause by creating a federal department without the approval of Congress. 

Ms. Chutkan wrote in her ruling that the plaintiffs did not provide “clear evidence of imminent, irreparable harm” that would warrant a temporary restraining order. She noted, however, that the plaintiffs “legitimately call into question what appears to be the unchecked authority of an unelected individual and an entity that was not created by Congress and over which it has no oversight.” 

Mr. Trump, during his first day in office, issued an executive order that established DOGE and implemented its agenda of “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” Billionaire businessman, Elon Musk, who came up with the idea for the agency before President Trump was elected, was chosen by the 47th president to spearhead the effort. 

Since then, DOGE has taken swift action to purge what Mr. Musk calls fraudulent and wasteful spending from government agencies. The agency’s efforts have been met with a barrage of protests from Democratic lawmakers and have drawn around 20 legal challenges. 

The 14 attorneys general behind the suit claim that Mr. Musk — an “unelected, unconfirmed government official” — is “exercising apparently limitless power within the Executive Branch,” they wrote in their complaint. They note that Mr. Musk has “wreaked havoc on the federal government and caused mass chaos and confusion for state and local governments, federal employees, the American public, and people around the world who depend on the United States for leadership and support.” 

The Trump administration, in a court filing on Monday, clarified that Mr. Musk is not actually an employee of DOGE but that he supervises the agency as a senior White House Advisor. 

DOGE secured a win on Monday when a separate judge declined to block the agency from accessing data from the Education Department on student loans. On Friday, another judge shot down a request to bar DOGE from accessing records at the departments of Labor, and Health and Human Services, along with data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.