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Trump has called for abolishing the Education Department

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DOGE leads Trump's efforts to shrink, overhaul government

By Nate Raymond

Feb 18 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has rejected a bid to

bar the government downsizing team created by President Donald

Trump and spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk from accessing

internal systems in the U.S. Department of Education that house

federal student financial aid information concerning millions of

Americans.

Washington-based U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss declined to

issue a temporary restraining order sought by the University of

California Student Association to prevent the department from

disclosing information to people affiliated with Musk's

Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

The student group's lawyers had argued that the Education

Department's decision to grant DOGE access to student data

violated its obligations under a federal law called the Privacy

Act of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code to protect the

sensitive personal information of the borrowers.

But Moss, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack

Obama, said the group presented no evidence "beyond sheer

speculation" to support finding that staffers with the

department or DOGE would misuse or improperly disclose

information they are obligated by law to keep confidential.

The judge cited a declaration by Adam Ramada, a DOGE

employee, who said that the six people working with his team to

help audit for waste, fraud and abuse at the department and

assist senior leadership in obtaining data understand they must

comply with laws governing the disclosure of the information.

Adam Pulver, the student organization's lawyer at the group

Public Citizen, said in a statement that despite the judge's

decision, the litigation would continue and that "nothing in

this ruling suggests that DOGE's access to sensitive student

data is legal."

"As the case moves forward, we expect to learn more about

just what DOGE is doing with the data students provided the

department with an expectation of privacy," Pulver said.

The Education Department and White House did not immediately

respond to requests for comment.

DOGE has swept through federal agencies since the Republican

president returned to office last month and put the chief

executive of carmaker Tesla in charge of rooting out

wasteful spending as part of Trump's dramatic overhaul of

government, which has included thousands of job cuts.

Several lawsuits have been filed by Democratic-led U.S.

states and liberal-leaning legal groups seeking to prevent DOGE

from accessing government systems.

Washington-based U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Monday

said she hoped to rule within 24 hours in a lawsuit by 13

Democratic state attorneys general seeking to block Musk and

DOGE from accessing various government systems and firing

employees at seven agencies.

U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas in Manhattan on Friday

extended a block on DOGE from accessing payment systems at the

U.S. Treasury Department.

Trump has called for shutting down the Education Department,

calling it "a big con job." He has nominated former Small

Business Administration chief and professional wrestling

executive Linda McMahon to head the department, which was

created in 1979. At her Senate confirmation hearing last week,

McMahon echoed his calls to abolish it.