Feb. 18 (UPI) — A federal judge has denied a request to stop Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency from accessing student data at the Department of Education, ruling that the student association at the University of California failed to show how it would suffer irreparable harm.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss of the District of Columbia issued his ruling late Monday, finding that the UCSA “failed to clear that essential hurdle” of showing how its members would be harmed by the Department of Education allowing DOGE access to its databases.
Moss, a President Barack Obama appointee, stated examples of potential identity theft and dissemination or leaks of Department of Education-held data were “entirely conjectural” and that the student association has provided “no evidence, beyond sheer speculation, that would allow the court to infer that ED or DOGE staffers will misuse or further disseminate this information.”
Despite its name, DOGE is not a federal department, which would have required congressional approval. Instead, President Donald Trump renamed and reorganized the U.S. Digital Service as DOGE with the mandate to modernize “federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”
Musk, Trump’s largest campaign backer at nearly $300 million, was appointed to lead DOGE, which has attracted controversy, criticism and litigation as it goes through the federal government slashing what it sees as waste from their budgets.
DOGE has argued it needs access to the departments’ internal databases and information to do its job, while lawsuits filed against it say federal agencies that give its unelected employees access are violating privacy laws.
UCSA filed its lawsuit Feb. 7, days after it was reported that DOGE had gained access to Department of Education data, stating that while its members had consented to the federal department using their information for limited purposes, “they did not consent to their information being shared with Musk or any DOGE parties.”
The student association on Feb. 10 then asked for a temporary restraining order to be put in place amid litigation.
On Monday, Moss said his ruling does not consider the standing of UCSA’s lawsuit, leaving those “less clearcut” questions to be answered during the court case.
“To the extent UCSA members have been injured by violations of these statutes, and they meet the other requirements for obtaining relief, there is at least a ‘possibility’ of compensatory relief at a later date,” he said.
