Court Partially Modifies Ex Parte Treasury TRO – Only Senior Officials Restored To Access
Judge Jeannette A. Vargas has issued a Memorandum and Opinion regarding the weekend ex parte TRO that, on its face, stripped all political appointees, including senior leadership, at the Treasury Department from access to key banking systems. We analyzed the impropriety of the Ex Parte TRO, Judge Issues Emergency Order Halting DOGE Access To Treasury Payment Systems.
The goverment filed an emergency motion to dissolve the Ex Parte TRO, aruing (correctly in my view) that it was “Impermissible and Anti-Constitutional”.
I’ll have more analysis soon, but here is the key portion of Judge Vargas’s ruling:
To the extent the language of the February 8 TRO could be read to place such senior officials within the intended scope of the Order, the Court grants the motion to modify the February 8 TRO to clarify that the Secretary of the Treasury and other Senate-confirmed senior Treasury Officers are not prohibited from accessing Treasury’s payment systems.1However, to the extent that Defendants seek to eliminate the TRO’s restriction on access by “political appointees” more broadly, Defs. Mem. at 5-6, the Court denies the motion.
MORE TO FOLLOW
I don’t think this solves the problem. It’s not up to the courts to determine how the Treasury Department is run and who runs it. That’s an Executive Branch function. The government should file an emergency appeal.
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