A federal judge on Monday (February 24) issued an order to block the Government Efficiency Department (DOGE), created by President Donald Trump and led by entrepreneur Elon Musk, from accessing sensitive data held by the US Department of Education and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
In Greenbelt, Maryland, US District Judge Deborah Boardman issued a temporary restraining order at the request of a union alliance, which believed that these agencies had erred in allowing the Government Efficiency Department to access records containing the personal information of millions of Americans.
Judge Boardman ruled that the Department of Education and its employees are not to disclose the personal identity information of six Americans and five union members to the Government Efficiency Department. Similarly, OPM is also prohibited from disclosing the personal information of the plaintiffs to any OPM employees who are “significantly” working for DOGE.
However, the same ruling does not apply to the Department of Treasury, as Judge Boardman refused to evict DOGE from the Treasury. In a footnote, she wrote that other federal judges had already approved a preliminary injunction to enforce the plaintiffs’ demands against the Treasury. The judge stated in the ruling, “The court believes that the plaintiffs have obtained the relief they sought.”
The six Americans are suing the Department of Treasury, Department of Education, and OPM because these three agencies allowed DOGE to access their personal identity information provided to the government when receiving veterans’ benefits, applying for student loans, and serving as federal employees. Additionally, five union organizations have joined the lawsuit, as the personal information of their members is also stored in the systems accessed by DOGE.
The plaintiffs also made broader demands, seeking to prevent DOGE from obtaining any individual’s sensitive personal data. However, the judge expressed that such demands were too broad and could only restrict DOGE from accessing data related to the plaintiffs. Judge Boardman remarked during the hearing, “Frankly, the order you propose is too broad!”
When lawyers from the Department of Justice criticized the legal challenge as “novel,” the judge responded by stating, “This is government-fostered, it is the government that authorized the DOGE team for global access, so they are just responding to the actions taken by the government.”
Emily Hall, a lawyer from the Department of Justice, pointed out that President Trump’s executive order directed DOGE to “maximize government efficiency and productivity.” Judge Boardman remarked, “The authorization couldn’t be broader!” Hall countered by saying that the goal is broad because Trump is seeking to implement “sweeping changes.”
(Information sourced from Reuters, The Hill)