NEW YORK >> A case that could test the ability of other branches of government to act as checks on the Trump administration began Friday with a hearing on whether Elon Musk and his aides should have access to the Treasury’s most sensitive payment and data systems.

The hearing, in federal court in Manhattan, came a week after 19 state attorneys general led by Letitia James of New York sued to block the administration’s policy of allowing political appointees and “special government employees” led by Musk access to the systems.

The judge presiding over the hearing extended an earlier judicial order that had temporarily restricted Musk’s team’s access to the Treasury systems. She said she would decide soon whether to keep the restrictions in place until a final ruling is made.

Government lawyers representing President Donald Trump and the Treasury have argued that the courts do not have the right to usurp the president’s power to give access to federal agencies to whomever he chooses.

When questioned by the judge overseeing the hearing, Jeanette A. Vargas, about whom the team members answered to, the lawyers for the government cited the Treasury. However, they said, the group also communicated with its own leaders in the executive branch, who set priorities.

“There is nothing unlawful about the Treasury carrying out the new policies of the new administration using Treasury employees,” said Jeffrey Stuart Oestericher, one of the lawyers.

At a news conference before the hearing, James said Congress, not Musk, had sole discretion over government funding and that states had a special role to play in preserving the constitutional order.

The attorneys general argue in their suit that Musk’s cost-cutting team has been given “unfettered access” to the Treasury’s most fundamental systems, which include Americans’ bank account and Social Security data. In the past, the attorneys general say, access to the systems was limited to a small number of career civil servants with security clearances.

The suit also says Musk’s team intends to cancel Treasury payments that have already been authorized by Congress.

Dismissed nuke experts may get called back

The Energy Department is seeking to bring back nuclear energy specialists after abruptly telling hundreds of workers that their jobs were eliminated, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The employees, responsible for designing and maintaining the nation’s cache of nuclear weapons at the National Nuclear Safety Administration, were part of a larger wave of workers dismissed from the Energy Department, drawing alarm from national security experts. Between 300 and 400 NNSA workers were terminated, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The agency’s quick reversal was announced Friday in an all-staff meeting. The NNSA is seeking to recall the workers because they deal with sensitive national security secrets, according to the people, who weren’t authorized to talk about the matter, which is not public.

Those cuts are especially concerning because the positions typically require high-level security clearances and training that can take 18 months or longer, said Jill Hruby, who served as the NNSA administrator during the Biden administration.

“These people are likely never going to come back and work for the government,” Hruby said in a phone interview. “We’ve had a very active program requiring an increase to our staff so the indiscriminate layoffs of people will be really difficult for the coming years.”

The NNSA firings were part of a wider swath of dismissals across the Energy Department, which included employees at the Loan Programs Office, a recently formed unit to fund clean energy projects, the group responsible for preventing cyberattacks against the power grid, and the department’s general counsel office.

The Energy Department and the NNSA did not respond to requests for comment.

Trump pushes to boost oil, gas production

Trump has signed an executive order formally creating a National Energy Dominance Council and directed it to move quickly to drive up already record-setting domestic oil and gas production.

Trump’s administration also announced it has granted conditional export authorization for a huge liquefied natural gas project in Louisiana, the first approval of new LNG exports since former President Joe Biden paused consideration of them a year ago.

And Trump said he has directed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to undo Biden’s ban on future offshore oil drilling on the East and West coasts. Biden’s last-minute action last month “viciously took out” more than 625 million acres offshore that could contribute to the nation’s “net worth,” Trump said.

Judge pauses layoffs at consumer bureau

The Trump administration agreed to halt any plans for mass layoffs, deletion of data or removal of funding from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The agreement was ordered by a judge after the employees’ union filed a lawsuit to prevent the agency’s dismantling. Their lawyers argued Friday that fast action was needed to prevent large-scale firings and deletion of its data.

The order will stay in place at least until March 3, when U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson will hear arguments in the case.

The administration has already ordered the CFPB to stop nearly all its work and closed its building.

The agency was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal.

Trump targets schools mandating COVID vax

Schools, colleges and states that require immunizations against COVID-19 may risk of losing federal money under an executive order President Donald Trump signed Friday.

It should have little national impact: Most schools have dropped such mandates. And it isn’t clear what money is at risk.

Candidate Trump often said he would “not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate,” but this order applies only to COVID-19 vaccines.

All states require schoolchildren to be vaccinated against certain diseases including measles, mumps, polio, tetanus, whooping cough and chickenpox. And all allow exemptions for certain medical or religious reasons.

CDC set to lose 10 percent of workforce

Nearly 1,300 probationary employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — roughly one-tenth of the agency’s workforce — are being forced out under the Trump administration’s move to get rid of all probationary employees.

The Atlanta-based agency’s leadership was notified of the decision on Friday morning. The verbal notice came from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in a meeting with CDC leaders, according to a federal official who was at the meeting. The official was not authorized to discuss it and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The affected employees are supposed to receive four weeks of paid administrative leave, the official said, adding that it wasn’t clear when individual workers would receive notice.

With a $9.2 billion core budget, the CDC is charged with protecting Americans from outbreaks and other public health threats. Before the cuts, the agency had about 13,000 employees, including more than 2,000 staff work in other countries.

Court pauses order on gender-affirming care

A second federal judge on Friday paused Trump’s executive order halting federal support for gender-affirming care for transgender youth under 19.

U.S. District Court Judge Lauren King granted a temporary restraining order after the Democratic attorneys general of Washington state, Oregon and Minnesota sued the Trump administration last week. Three doctors joined as plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed in the Western District of Washington.

The decision came one day after a federal judge in Baltimore temporarily blocked the executive order in response to a separate lawsuit filed on behalf of families with transgender or nonbinary children.

Judge Brendan Hurson’s temporary restraining order will last 14 days but could be extended, and essentially puts Trump’s directive on hold while the case proceeds. Hurston and King were both appointed by former President Joe Biden.

— From news service reports