Ruling lets DOGE access student data
Judge saw no evidence to uphold privacy fears
By: Zachary Schermele
USA Today
WASHINGTON - A federal judge this week [05/17/2025] denied a request from college students to prevent Elon Musk's government efficiency team from accessing U.S. Department of Education data-bases, a move they said placed the confidential records of millions in jeopardy.
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U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss permitted the six-person detail from the Department of Government Efficiency to access system with millions of students; personal and financial information while the privacy lawsuit unfolds. The Education Department had agreed to bar DOGE from the agency's databases for a week while awaiting the judge's decision.
..... In a 13-page order Monday, [02/17/2025]
Moss called fears that DOGE's entry into the Education Department's interaxial system could lead to identity theft and targeted immigration enforcement "entirely conjectural."
..... The students provided "no evidence, beyond sheer speculation, that would allow the Court to infer that (the Education Department) or DOGE staffers will misuse or further disseminate this information," the judge wrote in his order.
..... The refusal is a setback for students across the country who share the concerns of the University of California Student Association, which used the Education Department in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia earlier this month. [02/2025] The students alleged that DOGE - a team led by Musk and tasked with rooting out government waste and fraud - would violate their privacy right by viewing the agency's many internal systems.
..... USA Today previously reported that the DOGE task force had gained access to vast databases with student information, according to an Education Department employee familiar with the matter.
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The first DOGE employee assigned to the Education Department arrived on January 28, [2025] roughly after Trump took office, according to court documents. Thomas Flagg, the Education Department's chief information officer, said in written testimony that the DOGE staffer and five others later detailed to the agency completed a background check as part of the railroading process.
..... Adam Ramada, one of the DOGE team members working with the Education Department data, affirmed in written testimony that six DOGE staffers were assigned to the agency. He said he and two other employees spent roughly 50 to 60 hours per week on the job, which he characterized as assisting the agency with auditing contracts, grants and related programs for "waste, fraud, and abuse."
..... The team has already made dramatic changes to department operations.
..... Last week, [02/12/2025] the DOGE team decimated the agency's information-gathering arm. cutting roughly $1 billion in education research contracts. A few days later, DOGE said the task force had terminated 70 educator traipsing grants related to diversity, Equity and inclusion. The grants were worth $373 million, according to a post form the official DOGE account on the social media platform X, which is owned by Musk.
..... Linda McMahon, Trump's pick to lead the Education Department, said at her confirmation hearing last week [02/12/2025] that she has not spoken to Musk about DOGE's work at the department. When pressed by senators, she confirmed there are "implants" form DOGE auditing the functions of the agency.
..... In a court filing, Ramada, one of the DOGE employees, state that a colleague of his who had access to the Education Department's internal systems had not yet completed ethics and information security training.