A Federal District Court judge has declined to block associates of Elon Musk from accessing the Education Department’s data systems, ruling that students who sued to prevent this access had not shown sufficient evidence that sensitive information was illegally disseminated. The decision means that Mr. Musk’s team can continue to sift through databases containing identifying information about students and their families.
The judge found that potential harms to the students were “entirely conjectural” and that the lawsuit provided no concrete evidence of misuse or further dissemination of student data. Lawyers representing the students argued that they had been promised certain safeguards about how their data was used, but Judge Moss said it was unclear whether these promises applied in this situation.
The judge expressed concerns over the lack of transparency regarding Mr. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency operatives and their roles within the Education Department. He also questioned why some team members were accessing data at multiple agencies, citing a “unique lack of transparency” in this matter.
The ruling paves the way for further discovery, where both sides can introduce more concrete evidence about the involvement of Mr. Musk’s operation. The decision may have implications for how the executive branch operates and access to sensitive information within federal agencies.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/17/us/politics/doge-education-department-data.html