US court finds DOGE’s access to millions of people’s data unlawful — Fortune

Federal Judge Denise Cote in the United States ruled that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) violated the law by granting DOGE, which was led by Elon Musk, access to sensitive government data. This concerns the personal information of tens of millions of federal employees, job applicants and retirees, Fortune reports.

Violation of the Privacy Act

In a 39-page ruling, the judge said that OPM had violated the Privacy Act of 1974, which governs the disclosure and protection of certain government records. Cote concluded that the agency also failed to comply with its own cybersecurity rules.

The judge said that OPM had not provided a convincing explanation as to why DOGE representatives needed access to personal data. The ruling also states that government lawyers barely defended the legality of such access, instead citing subsequent changes to argue that there was no need for future judicial protection.

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Government arguments and the court’s position

The U.S. Department of Justice, which represented OPM, had previously stated in court filings that DOGE representatives needed the data to modernize the personnel sector. The information they accessed included personnel records, background check results, medical files and banking data.

Cote noted that previous government modernization programs had not required such access, and that the administration had not explained the connection between the volume of data obtained and the duties of DOGE representatives. The judge also rejected the government’s argument that the lawsuit had become moot because DOGE no longer operates as a centralized structure. She did not determine the final form of legal relief in the case.

Union lawsuit and security risks

A coalition of unions, including the AFL-CIO, filed a lawsuit against DOGE and the Department of Labor in February 2025, challenging the structure’s access to private information. Policy experts and federal employees expressed concerns about privacy and cybersecurity risks, including possible access to sensitive data by private-sector engineers without security clearances and the vulnerability of centralized databases to hackers.