DOGE dealt blow after federal judge stops Elon Musk’s nerd army from accessing ‘personal’ information
A federal judge temporarily blocked Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the personal information of millions of Americans.
District Judge Deborah L. Boardman ruled on Monday that the Department of Education and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) may not grant DOGE access to record systems with the individuals’ ‘sensitive personal information.’
Her ruling was in response to a lawsuit brought by six veterans and five unions which sued three agencies to block DOGE accessing personal data.
‘The Court finds that the plaintiffs have met their burden for the extraordinary relief they seek,’ Boardman wrote.
The group also sued to block DOGE access to personal information held by Treasury Department systems, but the judge declined to block that access.
Boardman included in the footnotes of her 33-page ruling that DOGE is already barred from accessing department records.
A district judge temporarily blocked the DOGE team of Elon Musk (pictured above) from accessing sensitive personal information housed at the Education Department and Office of Personnel Management. She declined to temporarily block access at the Treasury Department, noting that access has already been barred
The lawsuit was filed earlier this month to prevent DOGE from being able to access personal information of the six veterans who have received federal benefits or student loans.
They argued departments granting DOGE access to records containing their personally identifiable information was unlawful.
The individuals were joined by five unions whose members information was also stored in the systems DOGE was accessing. All together the groups represented more than two million Americans including veterans, teachers, nurses, current and former federal workers, scientists and more.
The plaintiffs argued that DOGE’s access to their records violates the Privacy Act of 1974, which was established to govern the collection, maintenance and use personal information in federal agency systems in the wake of Watergate.
The plaintiffs also claimed the DOGE access to records has caused ‘major stress and anxiety, as they do not know who their data has been or will be shared with, whether these disclosures have made them vulnerable to further privacy breaches, and how it may be weaponized against them.’
In her ruling, Boardman wrote that the group had ‘shown that Education and OPM likely violated the Privacy Act by disclosing their personal information to DOGE affiliates without their consent.’
There are currently six DOGE employees embedded at the Department of Education and even more than that at OPM, according to court records.
Boardman also wrote that the government may in time be able to explain why the department granting DOGE access to personal information is necessary for its jobs.
But she wrote ‘for now, the record before the Court indicates they do not have a need for these records in the performance of their duties.’
Boardman also stated that ‘the current record does not show that DOGE affiliates at OPM have a need for the plaintiffs’ PII in the performance of their duties.’
The court ruling showed there are six DOGE members embedded at the Department of Education, but she said it had not been demonstrated at this time that the team needs access to the personal information to carry out its duties.
The district judge ruled that it has not been demonstrated that DOGE team members at OPM need access to sensitive personal information to carry out their duties.
Monday’s ruling is the latest legal setback for the team lead by billionaire Elon Musk as they root through government systems and data as part of their directive to seek out waste, fraud and abuse.
Earlier this month, a separate federal judge temporarily blocked DOGE access to the Treasury Department’s sensitive payment system that handles tax returns, Social Security benefits, disability payments and federal employees’ salaries.
