DC District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan has turned away an attempt by a coalition of 13 Democrat-run states that would have prevented Elon Musk or any of his team from accessing data or code at seven federal agencies. "[T]he court finds," wrote Chutkan in a ten-page decision, "that Plaintiffs have not carried their burden of showing that they will suffer imminent, irreparable harm absent a temporary restraining order, and therefore Plaintiffs’ motion is DENIED." 

This action would be one of two cases that could effectively stymie President Trump's reforms for weeks. The other case, which arrived at the Supreme Court on Tuesday, is that of Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger, demanding reinstatement after he was fired by President Trump (Trump Sends Scorching Appeal of DC Court Order Reinstating Biden Appointee to the Supreme Court – RedState). He, too, requested redress that strikes at the very heart of executive power.

The crux of the case brought before Chutkan is that Musk's participation in government is illegal as the US Senate has not confirmed him as a "principal officer" as required by Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 or the Constitution and Congress does not have oversight of DOGE because it exists within the Executive Office of the President. This sounds rather bizarre to me as the President has clear authority, in my view, to set up an ad hoc task force to carry out a time-limited mission and to appoint anyone he wishes to lead it. But I'm not a judge on the DC Circuit.

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. In these circumstances, it must be indisputable that this court acts within the bounds of its authority. Accordingly, it cannot issue a TRO, especially one as wide-ranging as Plaintiffs request, without clear evidence of imminent, irreparable harm to these Plaintiffs. The current record does not meet that standard.

New Mexico vs Musk-final Order by streiff on Scribd

This case was a close-run thing. When the case was first filed, Chutkan seemed inclined to grant a temporary restraining order that would have barred even President and cabinet secretaries from accessing data in agencies they control; see Judge Gone Wild: Obama Judge Considers Forbidding Trump From Accessing Federal Data or Firing People – RedState. Yesterday, she seemed to retreat a bit from that stance, expressing doubts about what the coalition of leftist-controlled states was asking; see NEW: Federal Judge Now Has Doubts About Efforts to Block DOGE From Government Data – RedState. Today, she stepped back from the ledge. 

This is the second loss to the anti-Trump resistance today. Earlier, another federal judge (Federal Judge Opens Department of Education to Elon Musk's DOGE Team), also an Obama judge, tossed a request for a TRO that would have prevented DOGE from auditing the Department of Education's student loan program.