U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman blocked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the personal records in three federal agencies.
According to Boardman’s decision, DOGE may no longer access the records pertaining to the personal information housed in the Department of Education, Department of the Treasury, and Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
The agencies violated the Privacy Act by allowing DOGE access to the records.
“Enacted 50 years ago, the Privacy Act protects from unauthorized disclosure the massive amounts of personal information that the federal government collects from large swaths of the public,” Boardman wrote. “Congress’s concern back then was that ‘every detail of our personal lives can be assembled instantly for use by a single bureaucrat or institution’ and that ‘a bureaucrat in Washington or Chicago or Los Angeles can use his organization’s computer facilities to assemble a complete dossier of all known information about an individual.’”
“Those concerns are just as salient today. No matter how important or urgent the President’s DOGE agenda may be, federal agencies must execute it in accordance with the law. That likely did not happen in this case,” the court document reads.
In February, Boardman issued a temporary restraining order blocking DOGE from accessing federal student loan data information.
“It may be that, with additional time, the government can explain why granting such broad access to the plaintiffs’ personal information is necessary for DOGE affiliates at Education to do their jobs, but for now, the record before the Court indicates they do not have a need for these records in the performance of their duties,” Boardman wrote.
“This continuing, unauthorized disclosure of the plaintiffs’ sensitive personal information to DOGE affiliates is irreparable harm that money damages cannot rectify,” the judge noted in the decision.
