• A federal judge has temporarily blocked Elon Musk's DOGE from accessing Treasury Department material.
• The judge cited the risk of "irreparable harm" from the government's access policy.
• The order follows a lawsuit filed by 19 attorneys general seeking injunctive relief.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury Department payment systems, citing the risk of "irreparable harm."

After attorneys general from 19 states filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, US District Judge Paul Engelmayer issued an order early Saturday halting access to Treasury payment material for political appointees, "special government employees," and government employees not assigned by the Treasury Department.

"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," Engelmayer said.

The judge also ordered such officials granted access to the systems since January 20 "to immediately destroy any and all copies of material downloaded from the Treasury Department's records and systems."

The order is in place until Friday, February 14, when Engelmayer said the defendants, Trump and Bessent, should present arguments to Judge Jeannette Vargas.

Attorneys general from 19 states filed a lawsuit seeking to end what they called the government's "new and dangerous expanded access policy" and prevent Musk's DOGE program — which aims to slash government spending and regulations — from handling files containing personal and financial data.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who filed the lawsuit, said in a video posted on X Friday that Musk's DOGE had "accessed the personal private information of tens of millions of Americans" over the past week.

"This unelected group, led by the world's richest man, is not authorized to have this information, and they explicitly sought this unauthorized access to illegally block payments that millions of Americans rely on, payments for healthcare, childcare and other essential programs," James said.

DOGE did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.