North Dakota Backs DOGE in Lawsuit Challenging Access to Treasury System

Elon Musk. (Photo by Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images via the North Monitor)

(By: Robin Opsahl. North Dakota Monitor) – Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird led a group of 20 states including North Dakota filing a brief in support of President Donald Trump’s administration and Elon Musk amid lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of actions taken by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force.

The brief was filed in a case brought by Democratic attorneys general challenging access by Musk and DOGE employees to personal information through the U.S. Treasury payment system. A federal judge in Southern District of New York granted a temporary restraining order in the case, blocking Musk and DOGE employees from accessing the information and destroying records already obtained.

But Bird, in the amicus brief, argues these challenges are unconstitutional, stating Trump has the authority to direct executive branch agencies under Article II of the U.S. Constitution.

“Ultimately, Plaintiffs here are upset because one set of bureaucrats in the Executive Branch have access to data that they believe only other bureaucrats in the Executive Branch should have access to,” the brief states. “This type of fiddling around with the President’s prerogatives asks this Court to insert itself into core Executive decision-making regarding policy and personnel. The President is working to combat what former President Biden’s administration identified, at minimum, as hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud.