A federal judge has thrown out New York Attorney General Letitia James’ multistate lawsuit targeting President Donald Trump’s DOGE-affiliated access to Treasury Department systems, ruling that the core claims are moot now that the Treasury DOGE team no longer exists.
James led New York and 18 other states in suing the Trump administration after the Treasury Department granted DOGE-affiliated employees access to Bureau of the Fiscal Service systems, which process federal payments and contain sensitive financial data. Biden-appointed U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas issued her ruling Wednesday, finding no active dispute remained for the court to resolve.
Judge Vargas Finds DOGE Team Already Dissolved
In her decision, Vargas wrote that the Treasury DOGE team had been disbanded and no DOGE employees remained inside the department. “Plaintiffs’ claims related to access by DOGE-affiliated employees to sensitive Treasury information are dismissed as moot,” she wrote.
President Trump created DOGE through a January 2025 executive order directing federal agencies to assemble teams focused on identifying fraud, waste, and abuse. The order set July 4, 2026, as the termination date for the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization. With no personnel left exercising the disputed access, Vargas concluded there was no continuing practice for the court to block. As part of the DOGE Treasury lawsuit ruling, Vargas noted she had previously issued a preliminary injunction in February 2025 barring Treasury’s DOGE team from accessing the payment systems, later modifying that order to allow access for personnel who met specific vetting and training requirements.
States Failed to Prove Any Payment Was Withheld
Vargas also separately dismissed the states’ challenge to an automated Treasury payment-review system. The coalition failed to identify any specific federal payment owed to the states that the system had frozen or canceled, which was fatal to that portion of the case.
The ruling closes the case without addressing the broader legal question of whether DOGE’s original access to Treasury systems was lawful. The primary claims became moot once the team disbanded, while the secondary allegations collapsed for lack of evidence of an actual withheld payment.
Another Court Loss for James After Years of Trump Litigation
The dismissal is the latest setback in James’ long-running legal campaign against Trump. She campaigned on investigating Trump’s business practices before filing a civil fraud lawsuit against him and the Trump Organization in 2022, a case that initially produced more than $450 million in financial penalties. An appeals court later upheld Trump’s liability but threw out the large monetary judgment.
The DOGE lawsuit has now joined that list of incomplete victories, with every remaining claim brought by James and her 18-state coalition rejected by the court. No further proceedings in the case are expected unless the states pursue an appeal.
