Judge to weigh whether to block DOGE from accessing Treasury Department records
Photo by Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency faces its first major legal hurdle this afternoon when a federal judge in Washington, D.C., considers blocking the newly formed arm of the federal government from accessing sensitive records from the Treasury Department.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is hearing arguments Wednesday over whether she should issue a temporary restraining order prohibiting DOGE from accessing or using Treasury Department data as part of DOGE’s effort to trim the size of the federal government under President Donald Trump.
The hearing follows a lawsuit filed by three federal unions that alleged DOGE employees violated federal privacy laws when they accessed data from the Treasury Department, including the names, social security numbers, birthdays, bank account numbers, and addresses of taxpayers.
“The scale of the intrusion into individuals’ privacy is massive and unprecedented,” the lawsuit alleged.
The American Federation of Government Employees, the Service Employees International Union, and the Alliance for Retired Americans alleged that Musk and DOGE — with the consent of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — unlawfully accessed the sensitive records without providing any legal justification, public reasoning, or legal procedure to collect taxpayer data.
According to the lawsuit, DOGE’s “full, continuous, and ongoing access” of sensitive data risks the security of millions of Americans.
“People who must share information with the federal government should not be forced to share information with Elon Musk or his ‘DOGE.’ And federal law says they do not have to,” the lawsuit says.
The plaintiffs requested a temporary restraining order preventing the Treasury Department from providing DOGE sensitive information as well as enjoining DOGE employees from using any of the records they might have already obtained.
(NEW YORK) — Snow and rain are in the forecast for some parts of the U.S. as travelers hit the road and head to the airport for Thanksgiving.
Here’s your weather forecast for the holiday week:
Tuesday
Rain is sweeping across the East Coast from New York to Alabama on Tuesday morning.
There’s a slight chance for freezing rain in southern Vermont and the southern Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York before it warms enough to change to rain mid-day.
The rain will end in New York City and the Mid-Atlantic by mid-afternoon. Boston will be dry by 7 p.m.
In the West, 3 to 6 inches of rain is possible for the foothills of the southern Sierra Nevada mountain range through Tuesday morning.
Heavy rain is also hitting California’s San Joaquin Valley.
Snow is falling at higher elevations from California to Colorado, with winter storm warnings in effect.
California’s snow will end Tuesday night; totals could reach 3 to 5 feet in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains.
Treacherous travel is expected in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains as snowfall there continues through Wednesday. Up to 3 feet of snow is possible and avalanche warnings are in place.
Wednesday
The East Coast and West Coast will be dry on Wednesday, setting up a good holiday travel day for both coasts.
Interstate 70 will be the hardest-hit by rough weather, with snow in the Colorado Rockies and rain in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio.
In the South, temperatures will be well above average, with highs in the 70s and 80s. Houston may reach a record high for the second time this week.
Thanksgiving
Spectators heading to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City should bring umbrellas and raincoats, as the parade will be rainy with temperatures in the 40s. The breeze could reach 10 to 15 mph.
Rain will be falling across most of the East Coast Thursday morning, while snow hits northern Pennsylvania and upstate New York.
Much of the Interstate 95 corridor will be soggy throughout the day, especially north of Philadelphia where the rain will continue through the afternoon.
Meanwhile, temperatures will reach the 70s in Arizona and the 80s in Florida. But highs will only be in the 30s and 40s in the Midwest.
Friday
On Friday, snow will be falling from West Virginia to Pennsylvania to western New York.
Rain will move through north and central Florida, but it won’t reach Miami until Saturday morning.
Low temperatures may plunge to the single digits in Minneapolis for the first time this season Friday or Saturday morning.
High temperatures will only reach near freezing in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Omaha, Nebraska. The highs will only be in the 20s in Chicago.
(LAKELAND, Fla.) — A Florida woman was arrested and charged this week for ending a phone call with her health insurance provider with threats that mimicked wording associated with the suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter.
The incident occurred Tuesday when Briana Boston, a 42-year-old woman from Lakeland, was speaking with a representative from Blue Cross Blue Shield after she had been told that her medical claim was denied.
In an arrest affidavit obtained by ABC News, police said that near the end of the recorded conversation with the insurance provider, Boston can be heard saying, “Delay, deny, depose. You people are next.”
Boston’s apparent threats nearly echo the words that were engraved on the bullet shell casings that authorities recovered from the scene where UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot earlier this month.
Those engraved words were “deny,” “defend” and “depose.”
However, Boston’s words do match the title of a 2010 book “Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.”
The book was written by legal scholar and insurance expert Jay Feinman, a professor emeritus at Rutgers Law School in New Jersey. It explores abuses of auto and homeowners insurance to “avoid paying justified claims,” according to its summary.
Luigi Mangione is a suspect in the killing, which has catapulted the nation’s health care industry into the spotlight. Mangione faces second-degree murder and a slew of other charges in both Pennsylvania and New York.
When Lakeland Police confronted Boston about the perceived threats, she apologized and said that she “used those words because it’s what is in the news right now,” according to the arrest affidavit.
Boston told authorities she does not own any guns and is not a threat, but went on to say that health care companies “deserve karma” and that they are “evil,” according to the document.
“Boston further stated the health care companies played games and deserved karma from the world because they are evil,” police said in the affidavit.
ABC News has reached out to Blue Cross Blue Shield for comment.
Following the investigation, Boston was charged with threats to conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism and booked at a jail in Polk County, according to police.
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge in Maryland has issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship.
U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman heard arguments Wednesday over a request by five pregnant undocumented women to block Trump’s Day-1 executive order seeking to redefine the meaning of the 14th Amendment to exclude the children of undocumented immigrants from birthright citizenship.
“The denial of the precious right to citizenship will cause irreparable harm,” Judge Boardman said in handing down her order. “It has been said the right to U.S. citizenship is a right no less precious than life or liberty. If the court does not enjoin enforcement of the executive order, children subject to the order will be denied the rights and benefits of U.S. citizenship and their parents will face instability.”
“A nationwide injunction is appropriate and necessary because it concerns citizenship,” Judge Boardman said.
The ruling comes after a federal judge in Seattle criticized the Department of Justice for attempting to defend what he called a “blatantly unconstitutional” order and issued a temporary restraining order.
The women and the two nonprofits filed the Maryland lawsuit against the Trump administration last month, arguing that Trump’s executive order violated the constitution and multiple federal laws.
“If allowed to go into effect, the Executive Order would throw into doubt the citizenship status of thousands of children across the country, including the children of Individual Plaintiffs and Members,” the lawsuit said.
Lawyers for the Department of Justice have claimed that Trump’s executive order attempts to resolve “prior misimpressions” of the 14th Amendment, arguing that birthright citizenship creates a “perverse incentive for illegal immigration.” If permitted, Trump’s executive order would preclude U.S. citizenship from the children of undocumented immigrants or immigrants whose presence in the United States is lawful but temporary.
“Text, history, and precedent support what common sense compels: the Constitution does not harbor a windfall clause granting American citizenship to, inter alia: the children of those who have circumvented (or outright defied) federal immigration laws,” DOJ lawyers argued.
The executive order had already been put on hold by U.S. District Judge John Coughenour in Seattle.
“I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar can state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order. It boggles my mind,” said Coughenour. “Where were the lawyers when this decision was being made?”
Because Judge Coughenour’s order only blocked the executive order temporarily, Judge Boardman will consider a longer-lasting preliminary injunction of the executive order.
“The hearing that’s coming up is a proceeding that essentially puts a longer pause,” explained Loyola Marymount University professor Justin Levitt. “It’s an order saying, ‘Don’t implement this,’ because the plaintiffs have shown a likelihood that they’ll succeed when we finally get to a final resolution, but many substantive legal claims are effectively decided on preliminary injunctions.”
With Trump vowing to appeal a ruling that finds his executive order unconstitutional, a preliminary injunction — if granted after Wednesday’s hearing — could be his first opportunity to appeal to a higher court.
Members of the Trump administration spent months crafting this executive order with the understanding that it would inevitably be challenged and potentially blocked by lower courts, according to sources familiar with their planning.
While the lawsuit challenging the executive order in Seattle was brought by four state attorneys general, the five pregnant undocumented women who filed the Maryland case argue that they would be uniquely harmed by the order. With individual states and undocumented women suffering different harms under the order, the cases could present different reasons to justify blocking the order.
Monica — a medical doctor from Venezuela with temporary protected status who joined the lawsuit under a pseudonym — said she joined the suit because she fears her future child will become stateless, with her home country facing an ongoing humanitarian, political and economic crisis.
“I’m 12 weeks pregnant. I should be worried about the health of my child. I should be thinking about that primarily, and instead my husband and I are stressed, we’re anxious and we’re depressed about the reality that my child may not be able to become a U.S. citizen,” she said.
