Elon Musk Calls for Impeachment of Judges After DOGE Legal Blows

Elon Musk has called for U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, who temporarily blocked the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) access to sensitive Treasury records on Saturday, to be impeached.

“A corrupt judge protecting corruption,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, the social media platform he bought in 2022 for $44 billion, on Saturday night. “He needs to be impeached NOW!” he added.

Why It Matters

President Donald Trump created DOGE with an executive order signed on his first day back at the White House. The department, led by Musk, was charged with “modernizing federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” In Musk’s words, the goal of the department is “to stop fraud and waste of taxpayer money” by looking at how money is spent by government agencies.

But DOGE’s unchecked access to sensitive internal data of agencies across the federal government—which include the private information of millions of Americans—has drawn criticism by several government and state officials, who said it could violate federal laws and condemned Musk’s accumulation of power.

On Saturday, Engelmayer—who was appointed by former President Barack Obama—sided with those expressing these concerns.

What to Know

U.S. District Judge Engelmayer issued a preliminary injunction barring Musk and his DOGE team from accessing the personal financial data of millions of Americans in Treasury Department records. He also ordered the DOGE to destroy any they might already have obtained since January 20.

Additionally, the judge stated that Treasury records from the Bureau of Fiscal Services can only be accessed by specialized civil servants who need them as part of their jobs. The Trump administration cannot grant access to political appointees, special government employees, or those outside the Treasury—including Musk.

These conditions will remain in place until February 14, when the judge scheduled the next court hearing.

Engelmayer’s decision follows lawsuits from 19 Democratic attorneys general against the Trump administration over the fact that unelected “special government employee” Musk and the DOGE, which is not an official government department, were given access to the sensitive records. But the move has outraged Musk, who called it “absolutely insane,” saying it prevents him from exposing alleged fraud in the federal government.

On Saturday night, Musk called for Engelmayer’s impeachment in a series of posts on X. In one, he reshared a post from X account @DefiyantlyFree, or Insurrection Barbie, saying that the country should have “a serious conversation about starting to impeach some of these judges.” Musk added: “It’s time.”

What People Are Saying

The Tesla CEO also shared another post published on the platform by Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee, who wrote that Engelmayer’s order had “the feel of a coup—not a military coup, but a judicial one.” Musk commented on the post, saying, “Yes.”

In a followup, Musk wrote: “I’d like to propose that the worst 1 percent of appointed judges, as determined by elected bodies, be fired every year. This will weed out the most corrupt and least competent.”

Could Engelmayer Be Impeached, As Musk Says?

Technically, yes. Under U.S. law, district court judges can only be removed from office through impeachment by the House of Representatives and conviction by the Senate, which holds a trial to determine whether removal is appropriate. While the House can impeach a federal judge with a simple majority vote, the Senate needs a two-thirds majority for a conviction.

In New York, Engelmayer’s state, the trial following impeachment is conducted by a court made of state officials and/or state judges. Engelmayer, 63, is a district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He took office in 2011. The Republican Party currently controls both chambers.

What Happens Next

While threats of impeachment against judges have often been floated by GOP lawmakers and even Trump in the past few years, it is unlikely legislators will follow through.

The progressive nonprofit Brennan Center for Justice writes that if legislators were to follow through on impeachment threats, “they would toss aside a centuries-old understanding that if the impeachment power is used to punish judges for their rulings, it undermines the vital independence of our judicial branch.”

According to the center, only 15 judges have been impeached by the House since 1803; only eight have been removed from office after being convicted by the Senate.