This case revolves around the data submitted when university students apply for financial aid.
A federal judge refused to block Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the Department of Education’s Student Financial Aid Data on February 17th.
The lawsuit alleges that when attempting to access education department records, it has access to student personal information, including social security numbers, and detailed financial data of parents.
“The court concludes that the UCSA failed to clarify its essential hurdles, so the court’s analysis ends there,” the judge wrote.
“The court considered whether the USCA is about to sue on another day and argued that relief could be granted. These questions are less clear and can be answered better with a more complete record. .”
The USCA lawsuit alleged that Doge’s actions in accessing Doge’s records violated federal regulations, including the 1974 Privacy Act.
“Plaintiff’s UCSA members are 42 million federal student loan borrowers who provided (the education division) sensitive personal information to obtain federal student loans,” the plaintiff’s complaint states.
“These are people who trust (the department) with sensitive personal information,” the complaint states when applying for student loans and grants.
“If six individuals in question here access the agency system to perform their duties, and if an agent employee performs duties, they will not violate the privacy law,” the response stated. It’s there.
A declaration by Thomas Flag, Chief Information Officer of Education, states that the department “shares information with other enforcement departments and agencies as part of other non-do-related initiatives.” The lawsuit I file this declaration. ”
Moss will be excavated on both sides of the case at the February 14 hearing and will understand whether Doge employees who were temporarily assigned to work in the department could be considered employees of that agency. That’s what I did.
Moss highlighted what he considered a “unique lack of transparency” in Doge’s work.
“I don’t know who these people are or what they’re doing,” he said at the hearing.
The judge asked the plaintiff if it was ever appropriate for government officials from government agencies to conduct audits.
The plaintiff’s lawyer replied, “it depends on the nature of the audit.”
Similarly, the judge asked government lawyers about the broad scope of Doge’s data collection.
“What happens if the White House Politician Chief gets tax records for all Democratic candidates?” he asked.
The judge also asked for clarification of the actual number of DOGE employees assigned to the education department audit, concerning that student data was being fed to the AI portal for processing.
Government lawyers estimated the number for six individuals. The plaintiffs allegedly had 37 people.
Ramada also said that all but one employee has completed security and ethics training. The remaining employees will be completing training soon.