Court Allows Preliminary Injunction Over DOGE Access to OPM, Education Department Data to Stand
A judge for the U.S. District Court for Maryland denied a motion from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Education Department to stay pending appeal in a case about the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) access to sensitive personal information. The court allowed its previously ordered preliminary injunction to continue.
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"The Court has found -- and stands by its finding -- that the plaintiffs will suffer irreparable harm without an injunction," said Judge Deborah Boardman. "By entering a preliminary injunction, the Court is upholding the law, not, as the government says, 'curtail[ing] the Executive Branch’s core duty to manage the day-to-day operations of its agencies.' If an injunction curtails the management of the daily operations of the federal agencies, that, too, is a direct consequence of the likely unlawful agency actions."
Case 25-00430 started when the American Federation of Teachers, along with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, among others, filed suit on Feb. 10 for violations of the Privacy Act, among other federal laws. Boardman granted AFT's motion for preliminary injunction Monday (see 2503240055). The court had partially granted a temporary restraining order against DOGE on Feb. 24 as well (see 2502250011).