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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney
General Anthony G. Brown today joined a coalition of 19 attorneys
general in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration to stop the
unauthorized disclosure of Americans’ private information and sensitive
data. The lawsuit asserts that the Trump administration illegally
provided Elon Musk and the so-called “Department of Government
Efficiency (DOGE)” unauthorized access to the Treasury Department’s
central payment system, and therefore to Americans’ most sensitive
personal information, including bank account details and Social Security
numbers. This expanded access could allow Musk and his team to block
federal funds to states and programs providing health care, childcare,
and other critical services. With this lawsuit, the coalition of
attorneys general is seeking to stop the Trump administration’s new
policy that illegally grants DOGE, Musk, and others access to Americans’
confidential information and the U.S. Treasury’s payment systems.
“The
president is threatening the banking system Marylanders rely on. He has
given a wealthy businessman’s associates unauthorized access to tens of
millions of people’s sensitive information. This puts critical benefits
at risk—Social Security payments, healthcare, and federal tax
returns—simply because they don’t align with his administration’s
agenda,” said Attorney General Brown. “Our Office will not allow the federal government to play politics with people’s lives and livelihoods.”
Beginning
February 2, 2025, the Trump administration’s Treasury Department
adopted a new policy that grants “special government employees,”
including Elon Musk and members of DOGE, access to its central payment
system operated by the Bureau of Fiscal Services (BFS). This central
payment system controls vital funding that millions of Americans depend
on, including Social Security payments, veteran’s benefits, Medicare and
Medicaid payments, and more. The payment system also controls billions
of dollars that states rely on to support essential services like law
enforcement, public education, and infrastructure repairs.
Access
to BFS is limited by federal law to a select group of career civil
servants with the appropriate security clearances. Attorney General
Brown and the coalition assert the Treasury Department’s new policy,
which expands access to BFS’s payment system, violates the law,
jeopardizes Americans’ most sensitive personal information, and would
allow Elon Musk and other unauthorized political appointees to access a
system that could permit them to freeze federal funds with the click of a
button in violation of the Constitution.
With
this lawsuit, Attorney General Brown and the coalition of attorneys
general are seeking an injunction preventing the Trump administration
from continuing its new policy of expanded access to BFS’s payment
system, as well as a declaration that the Treasury Department’s policy
change is unlawful and unconstitutional.
Joining
Attorney General Brown in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general
of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii,
Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York,
North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
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