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By Natalie Venegas
Weekend Reporter
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Tech billionaire Elon Musk was handed a legal win on Friday by federal judge John Bates who Musk previously called for his impeachment, ruling that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) can continue to access sensitive records from at least three federal agencies.
Newsweek has reached out to Musk via Tesla's email for comment.
Why It Matters
DOGE's efforts, led by Musk, to cut the federal budget by $2 trillion has faced major legal challenges since President Donald Trump first entered the White House. Most recently DOGE has drawn sharp scrutiny for seeking unfettered access to the internal data of agencies across the government, including the Labor Department, U.S. Treasury, Office of Personnel Management, General Services Administration, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Small Business Administration and more.
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U.S. District Judge Bates, appointed by former President George W. Bush, previously blocked some of these efforts.
What To Know
In a Friday ruling, DOGE will maintain access to sensitive records from at least three federal agencies after Bates rejected a legal challenge seeking to block Musk's cost-cutting team from gaining access.
Bates issued the late-night ruling denying a request from unions and nonprofit groups to halt DOGE's access to records maintained by the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
At the core of the case was whether DOGE—created via executive order—has the legal authority to "detail" its personnel to specific federal agencies, effectively granting them access to confidential government records. In his ruling, Bates noted that for DOGE to have such authority, it would need to be recognized as an official federal agency under the law.
Plaintiffs argued that DOGE does not meet that standard, as it was not formed through congressional approval—meaning its staffers should not be able to embed within federal agencies.
Ultimately, the judge handed DOGE a victory, ruling that it likely qualifies as a federal agency—and therefore has the authority to continue accessing sensitive government records.
"For the reasons explained above, on the record as it currently stands and with limited briefing on the issue, the case law defining agencies indicates that plaintiffs have not shown a substantial likelihood that [DOGE] is not an agency. If that is so, [DOGE] may detail its employees to other agencies consistent with the Economy Act," Bates wrote.
Musk celebrated Friday's ruling on X, calling it a win for DOGE stating, "LFG."
Friday's ruling comes after Bates previously ruled last week that the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and four other government workers unions, which filed a lawsuit to block DOGE from accessing personal data within the Department of Labor, did not show they had standing to sue, but noted that he has "concerns."
A plaintiff must have standing—meaning they have to show a connection to the law or action being challenged and that they have been harmed by it—in order to bring a lawsuit.
"But on the current record, plaintiffs have failed to establish standing," Bates said in his ruling. "So although the Court harbors concerns about defendants' alleged conduct, it must deny plaintiffs' motion at this time."
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What Led to Musk Calling for Bates' Impeachment
The ruling marks a significant victory for Musk, who has been vocal in his criticism of Bates.
In recent days, he has taken to X, formerly Twitter, to call for the judge's impeachment after Bates ordered the restoring of the federal government's web pages on sexually transmitted diseases and other topics amid the Trump administration's fight against what it sees as "gender ideology."
"There needs to be an immediate wave of judicial impeachments, not just one," Musk posted Wednesday in response to a discussion about Bates' decision.
The dispute about the web pages stems from Trump's vow to fight "gender ideology" in the federal government. On January 29, Trump's Office of Personnel Management issued a memorandum to all agencies titled "Initial Guidance Regarding President Trump's Executive Order Defending Women."
The office ordered all federal agencies to "take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) that inculcate or promote gender ideology," "withdraw any final or pending documents, directives, orders, regulations, materials, forms, communications, statements, and plans that inculcate or promote gender ideology," and "ensure that all applicable agency policies and documents, including forms, use the term 'sex' and not 'gender.'"
In response to the memorandum, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) removed large numbers of webpages and datasets that used the word "gender" instead of "sex."
On February 4, a medical group named Doctors for America filed an 18-page lawsuit over the Trump administration's removal from the CDC and FDA websites of "a broad range of health-related data and other information used every day by health professionals to diagnose and treat patients and by researchers to advance public health."
On February 11, Bates agreed to impose a temporary restraining order on the CDC and ordered that any deleted webpages be restored as he heavily criticized government lawyers for suggesting that anyone who wished to read the deleted pages could simply use the Wayback Machine, a website that tracks the history of web pages and any changes made to them.
What People Are Saying
Robert Reich, former U.S. secretary of labor and an ardent Trump critic, wrote on X last week: "DOGE is a trojan horse for Elon Musk to gut labor, consumer, and environmental protections. If he actually wanted to cut waste, he'd look at the massive tax loopholes, government contracts, and subsidies that benefit the wealthy and large corporations."
Elon Musk wrote on X on Tuesday about Bates' ruling on the CDC and FDA websites: "Truly absurd. Judges as website editors!? We should at least ATTEMPT to fire this junky jurist. The notion of having a judge job for life, no matter how bad the judgments, is ridiculous! Enough is enough."
What Happens Next?
It is unclear how many more court rulings could still be coming against Musk and DOGE as Musk's proposed cuts to federal agencies could continue to face legal and legislative challenges.
Meanwhile, Bates' temporary restraining order will restore the medical web pages until he conducts a full hearing into the facts of the case.
The Trump administration will likely appeal Bates' decision to a higher federal court.
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