Posted on 02/24/2025 10:30:51 AM PST by SeekAndFind
A federal judge on Feb. 24 blocked two agencies from sharing sensitive information with employees of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“The U.S. Department of Education; Denise L. Carter, the Acting Secretary of Education; and their officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys are ENJOINED from disclosing the personally identifiable information of the plaintiffs and the members of the plaintiff organizations to any DOGE affiliates,” U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman wrote in a 33-page order.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and its employees are also forbidden from disclosing the same information to DOGE workers, the judge said.
The temporary restraining order is in effect until March 10 as the case proceeds. It could be extended, converted into a preliminary injunction, or allowed to expire.
The American Federation of Teachers and other groups recently asked the court to block officials with the OPM, Department of Education (DOE), and U.S. Department of Treasury from conveying sensitive records to DOGE employees.
Allowing DOGE access to the records endangers the privacy rights of veterans and other people represented by the groups, the organizations said in their request to the federal court in Maryland.
Government lawyers argued that the judge should reject the motion for a restraining order because government officials have not violated the plaintiffs’ privacy.
“At the heart of Plaintiffs’ theory is the baseless allegation that ‘DOGE representatives’ at the Defendant agencies are somehow outside the category of federal employees, or outside the category of federal employees in their respective agencies. Neither criticism withstands scrutiny. The Privacy Act therefore expressly allows disclosure of information protected under that statute in the circumstances of this case,” the lawyers wrote in a filing.
Boardman said that even if officials have only been sharing information with other government employees, it still violates the plaintiffs’ right to have their sensitive personal information kept private if the employees are not authorized to access the data.
“Education and OPM possess a significant amount of detailed information about the plaintiffs’ lives. To say that the plaintiffs suffer no cognizable injury when their personal information is improperly disclosed to government employees would nullify their interest in preventing unlawful government intrusion into their private affairs. The unauthorized disclosure of the plaintiffs’ sensitive personal information is an injury in fact,” the judge wrote.
While plaintiffs cannot receive relief under the Privacy Act, the judge said later, they can under the Administrative Procedure Act, which bars the government from taking steps that are not in accordance with the law.
“The plaintiffs have shown that Education and OPM likely violated the Privacy Act by disclosing their personal information to DOGE affiliates without their consent,” Boardman said.
The act prohibits agencies from disclosing “any record which is contained in a system of records by any means of communication to any person, or to another agency, except pursuant to a written request by, or with the prior written consent of, the individual to whom the record pertains.”
In addition to the American Federation of Teachers, a union that represents some 1.8 million people, the other plaintiffs in the case are the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, and the National Federation of Federal Employees.
The order expressly names Adam Ramada, a DOGE employee who said in a declaration filed in the case that he and five other DOGE employees have been working with the DOE to audit contracts, grants, and programs “for waste, fraud, and abuse.”
“In addition, we help senior Department leadership obtain access to accurate data and data analytics to inform their policy decisions at the Department,” Ramada said in the filing
Ramada said he learned that one of the six employees had not yet completed training on ethics or information security and had been directed to complete the training.
A DOE official previously told the court that six employees associated with DOGE went through background checks and other procedures before gaining access to DOE systems. OPM officials had told the court that all personnel with access to sensitive OPM records are employees of OPM, although some also work for other agencies.
DOGE employees have also been helping other agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Treasury, in line with President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
“Those who complain the loudest about budget cuts make it easier to follow the money” L.Star. be interested to know what’s in the judge’s wallet. and closet.
Trump finally needs to tell some judges to pound sand: this is clearly a separation of powers issue. Either the President control the administration of the Executive branch, or the judiciary does.
"Judge Blocks Education Department, OPM From Sharing Data With DOGE"
FR: Never Accept the Premise of Your Opponent’s Argument
But when elite desperate Democrats effectively do the same thing imo ...
Did you know that Joe Biden gave unpaid researchers and students full access to IRS data? (2.24.25)
DOGES had everything the night Trump was sworn in.
That Department is on step 99, the Democrat crooks are fighting step 18.
Okay Judge. Whatever you say. 🤓
Just in!
DOGE Dilemma: Tulsi Gabbard Defies Elon Musk’s Job Justification Order On Federal Workers
https://www.ibtimes.com/doge-dilemma-tulsi-gabbard-defies-elon-musks-job-justification-order-federal-workers-3764802
Appear in the Department’s offices with US Marshals, take the information necessary despite being enjoined and refuse to appear in court if they get pissy.
Great news. Trump can now just order 30% reductions in the workforce among all agencies since the judges think the executive branch has no right to see the books. If they complain, do it twice.
So did Kash. Some departments have no business telling what they do
The corruption data of all the Stealing and Debauchery ?
Another Judge with a date with Trump at the woodshed.
I had a TS clearance in the USAF and I am on the side of Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Kash Patel. Five bullet points of the achievements of their sensitive workweek should not be disclosed without the need to know, no matter what kind of background investigation the DOGE analyst passed.
So if the same investigators worked for the DoE, there would not be the same privacy concerns. Simple solution: Have the acting head of the DOE put some of the DOGE personnel on the DOE payroll while they perform the audit.
Apparently the judges control administration within the Executive branch. I expect to see most of these orderr become permanent injunctions against DOGE, and SCOTUS will back up their judges by refusing to hear the cases.
Ignore the judge. Fire anyone who refuses to cooperate for insubordination.
L
THAT JUDGE IS OUT OF HIS/HER LANE AND LOST IN EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL SPACE.
BAN THAT JUDGE FROM USING ALL U.S. GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, PROPERTIES, FORMS OF COMMUNICATIONS, AND TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS.
Simple work around - create a unique identifier for every person and only disclose that identifier. And then if that person is deemed unnecessary, send that identifier to the person in charge with instructions to fire them. (I work on systems with PII all the time, but never have access to the actual PII -— only to a single key. I can flag an issue with a specific person to the heads of the agencies I work with and provide them with the key. The heads of the agencies take it from there.)
The judge just pulled out the horses and buggies after the jet planes had circled the country a hundred times.
Lol.
Then he should ask Congress to change their jurisdiction to some mountain top in Alaska and get new circuits created.
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