| DOJ Replies
to Vacate Political Appointees
Like Bessent Barred from
Treasury Data Access
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
Feb 10 – New York and other
states on Friday filed for an
injunction against the Trump
administration and early
Saturday morning obtained a
Temporary Restraining Order
that the Administration
is
"restrained from
granting access to all
political appointees, special
government employees, and
government employees detailed
from an agency outside the
Treasury Department, to any
Treasury Department payment
record, payment systems, or
any other data systems
maintained by the Treasury
Department containing
personally identifiable
information and/or
confidential financial
information of
payees."
Inner City Press, which
closely covers the SDNY court,
immediately put the order on
its DocumentCloud here.
A day later questions were
being raised whether the
restrained "political
appointees" included Treasury
Secretary Scott Bessent. It
would appear the argument will
be in Tuesday's filing and
Friday's argument. Inner City
Press asked, but will it be
addressed before?
Yes. After 11 pm
on Sunday, February 9 DOJ
filed to vacate the TRO,
arguing that "the Order could
be read to cover all political
leadership within
Treasury—including even
Secretary Bessent."Memo of law
on Patreon here.
After midnight,
Judge Vargas ordered: If no
agreement is reached,
Plaintiffs' response to the
Motion shall be due by 5 pm on
Feb 10.
At 4:49 pm the
states filed opposition,
saying the TROs are not
appealable, and that the TRO
should only be modified to
allow the Federal Reserve Bank
of Kansas City the access it
had before January 20. 11-page
memo on Patreon here.
Reply was due by 11 pm.
After 10 pm DOJ
replied, including that "If
not dissolved in its entirety,
the Order should, at minimum,
be modified to make clear that
it does not cover Treasury’s
senior leadership, including
the Secretary, Deputy
Secretary, Chief of Staff, and
Undersecretaries." Filing on
Patreon here
Analysis
including on how this fight on
clarifying the scope of the
order might have been avoided
is on X for Subscribers here
and Substack here
Inner City
Press will be
reporting in
real time on
the case.
The case is State
of New York, et al. v. Donald
J. Trump, et al., 1:25-cv-1144
(Vargas)
***
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