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By Theo Burman and Daniel Orton
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A Republican congressman has said he drafted articles of impeachment against a judge who blocked Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing Treasury Department payment systems.
Arizona Representative Eli Crane said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer was "attempting to stop White House employees from accessing the very systems they oversee."
Newsweek reached out to Engelmayer for comment via an email to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
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Why It Matters
Musk's efforts to cut the federal budget by $2 trillion a year has faced major legal challenges since President Donald Trump first entered the White House. Last week, DOGE began hiring lawyers with Supreme Court clerking experience ahead of legal battles that could go all the way to the highest court. The impeachment of a judge blocking DOGE would be a huge victory for Musk's team.
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What To Know
Engelmayer is responsible for a Saturday ruling that blocked Musk and his DOGE allies from accessing sensitive Treasury records.
He issued a preliminary injunction barring DOGE, which is not an official government department, from accessing the personal financial data of millions of Americans in Treasury Department records. He also ordered DOGE to destroy any records they might already have obtained since January 20.
In his decision, Engelmayer said that the abrupt change in policy might result in personal information being leaked or the Treasury systems being hacked. He also said that state legal proceedings on the Treasury information access would likely find that DOGE's demands did not have proper legal backing.
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What People Are Saying
Representative Eli Crane said: "Partisan judges abusing their positions is a threat to democracy...This is obviously judicial overreach...Where in the constitution does it say a President and his team cannot root out obvious waste, fraud and abuse?"
After Engelmayer's ruling, Elon Musk wrote on social media: "I'd like to propose that the worst 1 percent of appointed judges, as determined by elected bodies, be fired every year. This will weed out the most corrupt and least competent."
In his decision, Engelmayer wrote: "That is both because of the risk that the new policy presents of the disclosure of sensitive and confidential information and the heightened risk that the systems in question will be more vulnerable than before to hacking."
What Happens Next
Engelmayer's decision will remain in place until February 14, when the judge scheduled the next court hearing.
After drafting the impeachment articles, Crane will need to submit them to the House of Representatives, where they will be referred to the House Judiciary Committee.
Newsweek has contacted Crane for further comment.
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