Federal Judge Declines Immediate Ban on DOGE’s Labor Dept. Access
A federal judge ruled in favor of the Trump administration on Friday, choosing not to impose an immediate restriction on Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing systems maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor.
U.S. District Judge John Bates of the D.C. Circuit, appointed by George W. Bush, acknowledged concerns regarding DOGE’s system access but determined that the plaintiffs had not yet demonstrated any legal harm.
“Although the court harbors concerns about defendants’ alleged conduct, it must deny plaintiffs’ motion at this time,” Bates stated, according to Fox News.
The Labor Department has conducted investigations into companies such as SpaceX and Tesla, both of which are owned by Musk and fall under DOGE’s oversight. These investigations have generated records that the department retains, including sensitive details on competitors’ trade secrets, as noted in the unions' lawsuit.
Additionally, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has investigated and imposed fines on SpaceX and Tesla over worker safety violations, the unions claim.
The Labor Department’s databases also contain medical and financial records of millions of Americans, including individuals who have lodged workplace safety complaints.
This decision follows an earlier agreement by the Trump administration this week, stipulating that DOGE would refrain from accessing Labor Department systems until the court had made a ruling.
The Justice Department confirmed that three DOGE staff members have been assigned to the Labor Department, reporting to its acting secretary. These employees have been designated as special government workers and are legally obligated to comply with laws concerning corporate and worker confidentiality during their review process.
Previously, Musk’s DOGE team had gained access to sensitive Treasury Department payment systems. However, a judge has since prohibited their access to Treasury records containing personally identifiable information, including Social Security and bank account numbers, Fox News reported. Furthermore, DOGE has been instrumental in dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and has provided financial incentives to encourage federal workers to resign.
“At every step, DOGE is violating multiple laws, from constitutional limits on executive power, to laws protecting civil servants from arbitrary threats and adverse action, to crucial protections for government data collected and stored on hundreds of millions of Americans,” attorneys for the labor unions, represented by the advocacy group Democracy Forward, stated in their legal complaint.
Labor Department officials reportedly informed a union member this week that DOGE personnel would be visiting and advised workers to allow them to do “whatever they ask, not to push back, not to ask questions,” according to the unions' court filing.
In response, the Justice Department argued that there is no substantive evidence of misconduct, asserting that the judge should not impose “a sweeping, prophylactic order … based on plaintiffs’ rank speculation that DOL will violate the law.”
Meanwhile, on Friday morning, security officials barred Democrats from entering the Department of Education building in Washington, D.C., after reports surfaced that DOGE was focusing on that agency. These developments followed speculation that Trump intended to issue an executive order directing the department to significantly reduce its role and costs.
In late January, Trump issued an executive order aimed at “ending radical indoctrination” in public schools nationwide.
“Parents trust America’s schools to provide their children with a rigorous education and to instill a patriotic admiration for our incredible Nation and the values for which we stand,” the order states.
“In recent years, however, parents have witnessed schools indoctrinate their children in radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight. Such an environment operates as an echo chamber, in which students are forced to accept these ideologies without question or critical examination. In many cases, innocent children are compelled to adopt identities as either victims or oppressors solely based on their skin color and other immutable characteristics.”
“In other instances, young men and women are made to question whether they were born in the wrong body and whether to view their parents and their reality as enemies to be blamed. These practices not only erode critical thinking but also sow division, confusion, and distrust, which undermine the very foundations of personal identity and family unity,” the order continues.
“My Administration will enforce the law to ensure that recipients of Federal funds providing K-12 education comply with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination in various contexts and protecting parental rights,” it concludes.