US judge refuses to block Musk’s DOGE from student data

A US judge temporarily refused on Monday to block Elon Musk’s government efficiency team from accessing Education Department student data, in a minor legal victory for the world’s richest man in his blitz on public spending.

The drive by Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to slash outgoings deemed wasteful or contrary to US President Donald Trump’s policies has run up against multiple legal challenges.

The University of California Student Association had sought to block DOGE from accessing students’ data including social security numbers, loans and tax information.

But federal Court Judge Randolph D. Moss said in his order on Monday that potential harm to students was “entirely conjectural” and that their lawsuit “provides no evidence beyond sheer speculation” that Musk’s team would “misuse or further disseminate this information”.

The order allows both sides time to gather more evidence about Musk’s handling of the data, before Judge Moss rules on whether to allow the lawsuit to advance.

DOGE is not an official government department but has sought to access data from several federal bodies.

The Tesla, SpaceX and X chief ran into controversy this month when he and his team tried accessing sensitive Treasury Department data.

An internal assessment from the Treasury called the DOGE team’s access to federal payment systems “the single biggest insider threat the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS) has ever faced,” US media reported.

Meanwhile the Social Security Administration chief quit on Monday over DOGE’s requests to access Social Security recipient information, US media reported citing unnamed sources.