Judge Gives Green Light to Controversial DOGE Data Access Lawsuit

A federal judge rejected Trump’s administration’s attempts to dismiss a suit that accused the Department of Government Efficiency of gaining access to databases with the personal information of millions of federal employees.

Denise Cote, U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York, denied the motion to dismiss in part. She agreed in a 37-page decision that DOGE officials were illegally given highly personal information, including Social Security numbers and health records. Cote is a Bill Clinton appointee who ruled that the lawsuit could proceed to stop such disclosures and require any information shared be returned.

Elon Musk is the leader of DOGE. President Donald Trump wants to streamline the federal government by eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse.

Cote ruled that current and former federal workers “may pursue injunctive relief under the APA (Administrative Procedure Act)”. … “The defendants’ Kafkaesque arguments to the contrary would deny the plaintiffs any recourse in law.”

The complaint alleges, plausibly, that OPM’s actions were not typical of its day-to-day operations but that they were in stark contrast to their normal procedures, illegal and dangerous. Cote added, “The complaints adequately plead the DOGE Defendants plainly and publicly crossed a line in the sand that Congress had drawn. “

In February, former and current federal employees, as well as their unions, filed a lawsuit against the OPM for breach of privacy. They alleged that DOGE officials illegally obtained data from the agency’s database.

The U.S. District Court Judge Deborah Boardman (a Joe Biden nominee) barred OPM and other federal agencies last week from disclosing the personal information of approximately 2 million plaintiffs. The lawsuit claimed that DOGE’s breach of records violated the federal Privacy Act of 1975, which governs the access, use, and disclosure of information by federal agencies.

Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees – the largest union of federal employees – applauded this decision.

Kelley stated, “Elon Musk, his DOGE cronies, and their spies have no right to rummage through the sensitive data at OPM.” “AFGE and its allies fought and won because we are not willing to compromise on protecting the privacy and safety of our members and the American public they proudly serve.”