DOGE ruling
In response to a February 2025 lawsuit filed by Attorney General Letitia James of New York,Vargas issued an injunction prohibiting DOGE from accessing Treasury systems. [11]
On April 11,2025 she decided in favor of the Trump administration. The New York Times wrote:"Judge Vargas acknowledged that her preliminary injunction had been ordered in part because of what the court identified as issues with the Treasury’s “hasty implementation and gaps in training”for the DOGE team members.
"However,'based on existing record,' Judge Vargas wrote that the mitigation,training and vetting procedures that the government has detailed in its filings are adequate to satisfy her concerns." [12]
Drake-Kendrick Lamar defamation case
In 2024, rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar—who were both signed to the same record company, Universal Music Group (UMG)—exchanged aggressive diss tracks. In particular, Lamar's "Not Like Us" described Drake as a "certified pedophile." Drake sued UMG for defamation, alleging that Lamar's accusations were false and that UMG knew they were false, but boosted the visibility of Lamar's accusations to make money at Drake's expense. [13] [14] In October 2025, Judge Vargas granted UMG's motion to dismiss the lawsuit. She held that New York State defamation law disfavored legal liability for statements of opinion and would not allow Drake to sue UMG for publishing and amplifying Lamar’s opinion. [15] [16] She concluded that in context, Lamar's lyrics were opinions, even if they were worded similarly to factual assertions, as a reasonable listener would understand that rap battles are not "fact-checked verifiable content." For support, she noted that Drake had previously dared Lamar to accuse him in "Taylor Made Freestyle", and had also accused Lamar of domestic violence. She dismissed Drake's argument that some social media commenters thought Lamar was stating facts, because "[i]n a world in which billions of people are active online, support for almost any proposition, no matter how farfetched, fantastical or unreasonable, can be found with little effort." [17]
