Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a coalition of 18 attorneys general, today filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to stop the unauthorized disclosure of Americans’ private information and sensitive data.
In their lawsuit, Raoul and the coalition assert that the Trump administration illegally provided Elon Musk and the 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.
“Federal law limits access to Americans’ personal and self-identifying information to specific government workers who have passed extensive and thorough security clearances. Unelected political appointees who have not been appropriately vetted should not be allowed to have unrestricted access to Americans’ sensitive personal information and our nation’s most critical payment system,” Raoul said. “My office has been committed to helping protect Illinois residents’ personal information, and I am joining my colleagues in filing this lawsuit to stop unfettered access to this sensitive data and require members of DOGE to follow the law.”
Raoul and the coalition are 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.
Beginning Feb. 2, the 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, veterans’ 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. Raoul and the coalition assert the Treasury Department’s new policy, which expands access to BFS’ 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.
Raoul and the coalition are seeking an injunction preventing the Trump administration from continuing its new policy of expanded access to BFS’ payment system, as well as a declaration that the Treasury Department’s policy change is unlawful and unconstitutional.
Joining Raoul in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.
