A federal judge has issued an order to block President Donald Trump’s Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing and auditing U.S. Department of Education (DOE) records.
Judge Deborah Boardman of Greenbelt, Maryland, issued a temporary restraining order on Monday.
The order from the judge, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, prohibits DOGE from reviewing records at the DOE as part of the Trump administration’s cost-cutting sweep.
Greenbelt argues that the records contain personally sensitive information on Americans, including financial data related to federal student loans.
The order establishes a two-week restraining order against the DOE and the Office of Personnel Management from sharing information with DOGE.
In the decision, Boardman wrote:
“This continuing, unauthorized disclosure of the plaintiffs’ sensitive personal information to DOGE affiliates is irreparable harm that money damages cannot rectify.”
The order stems from a lawsuit filed against the administration.
The lawsuit alleges that “the agencies unlawfully granted access to records that contain their personally identifiable information (PII) to personnel implementing the President’s Executive Orders on the DOGE agenda.”
The judge’s decision reads:
“The plaintiffs have made a clear showing that they are likely to suffer irreparable harm without injunctive relief.”
“DOGE affiliates have been granted access to systems of record that contain some of the plaintiffs’ most sensitive data—Social Security numbers, dates of birth, home addresses, income and assets, citizenship status, and disability status—and their access to this trove of personal information is ongoing.”
“Upon consideration of the amended complaint, the TRO briefing, the limited record evidence, oral argument, and the recent decisions of other courts in similar cases, the Court finds that the plaintiffs have met their burden for the extraordinary relief they seek,” the ruling reads.
“The TRO is granted in part and denied in part.”
The latest ruling against DOGE comes from the same Biden-appointed judge who has been blocking other key elements of Trump’s agenda.
In early February, Greenbelt blocked Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship.
Boardman argued in the earlier ruling that citizenship is a “national concern that demands a uniform policy.”
Meanwhile, DOGE has seen several legal victories.
It comes as DOGE faces repeated attempts to block efforts to cut wasteful federal spending and fraudulent abuse of taxpayer funds.
U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, an Obama appointee, recently denied a request to issue a temporary restraining order preventing Musk and DOGE from accessing data systems at several federal agencies.
In addition, DOGE was issued another win after District Judge Christopher Cooper, another Obama appointee, refused to block Trump’s new cost-cutting measures.
Cooper shot down a request from several federal labor unions to pause the mass firings of federal workers by the Trump administration.
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