Federal Judge Bars Elon Musk’s Team From Student Loan Databases

On Monday, a federal judge in Maryland issued a temporary restraining order, preventing the Education Department and the Office of Personnel Management from sharing sensitive information with members of Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency team, or anyone assisting them.

The order, handed down by Judge Deborah L. Boardman in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, stops Mr. Musk’s team from proceeding with what they’ve called an audit of the Education Department’s student loan systems for the next two weeks while the lawsuit remains ongoing.https://svtoday.org/2025/02/25/judge-blocks-musks-access-to-student-loan-data/

In her ruling, Judge Boardman stated that the government had not sufficiently demonstrated that Musk’s team truly needed access to such personal data in order to carry out their work.

“Affiliates of DOGE have been granted access to sensitive systems containing highly personal data — including Social Security numbers, birthdates, addresses, income, assets, citizenship status, and disability information — and their access to this data continues,” Judge Boardman wrote. “There is no indication that their access will be terminated soon, as the government has deemed it appropriate.”

The American Federation of Teachers, which represents over 1.8 million educators, filed the lawsuit to prevent Musk’s team from accessing the department’s data systems. They argued that these systems held private information that members had submitted in relation to student aid for themselves or their families.

Randi Weingarten, president of the union, stated, “We initiated this case to protect people’s privacy. When individuals provide their financial and personal information to the government—whether for securing college financial aid or obtaining a student loan—they expect that data to be safeguarded and used as intended, not repurposed for other purposes.”

In a related case last week, a judge declined to grant a restraining order against Musk’s team, finding that the group bringing the lawsuit hadn’t proven that students whose data had been analyzed by Musk’s affiliates suffered clear harm.

However, Judge Boardman determined that the mere act of disclosing sensitive personal information to Musk’s team was a tangible harm in itself, regardless of potential risks like identity theft.

Attorneys who brought the suit had requested similar restrictions on the Treasury Department, but Judge Boardman declined, noting that another court had already blocked Musk’s team from accessing sensitive data there.

She suggested that she believed the teacher’s union would likely succeed in its lawsuit, and the restraining order was necessary to allow Musk’s team to explain why they could not conduct their analysis using data that excluded or redacted sensitive information.