Trump Administration Must Face Lawsuit Over DOGE Data Access

The Trump administration must face litigation over its decision to give the Department of Government Efficiency access to federal personnel data after a New York judge rejected the government’s motion to dismiss the suit.

Judge Denise Cote of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York said that the Office of Personnel Management hadn’t proved that their recent policy changes would prevent the administration from violating the Administrative Procedure Act by giving DOGE access to sensitive information.

The American Federation of Government Workers sued the administration in February, accusing it of violating the law by handing over personnel information over to the Elon Musk-driven initiative.

The new ruling forces the administration to continue the ongoing legal battle over DOGE accessing troves of government data in the opening months of the year. The US Supreme Court lifted restrictions from a similar dispute in June, allowing DOGE to hold onto sensitive Social Security information.

The OPM maintains data on millions of federal workers, including sensitive information that DOGE opponents say could be weaponized by foreign governments, terrorist groups, and other bad actors.

The agency said in its briefs that only five DOGE agents are currently still working at the OPM and they no longer have access to the workers’ data. The OPM also said it implemented additional permanent security measures required by Cote’s preliminary injunction, making the lawsuit moot.

Cote disagreed, saying the government could rescind its security policies and go back to its unlawful behavior if the case was dropped. The judge said the lawsuit is not about OPM’s procedures, but “whether OPM violated the law in spite of its procedures when it granted individuals working on the DOGE agenda broad access to high sensitive and legally protected records.”

“It should be clear then, that this lawsuit is unlikely to be mooted by the government creating more procedures,” she said.

The judge also dismissed a motion by AFGE for further discovery, denying the union information about the current security of OPM systems, the use of the data that was accessed, and any mitigation steps taken by the government to protect workers’ data after DOGE staff accessed it.

The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys from the Democracy Defenders Fund, Lex Lumina LLP, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and The Chandra Law Firm LLP. Justice Department attorneys represent the administration.

The case is AFGE v. OPM, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:25-cv-01237, order 12/19/25.