A divided appeals court handed President Donald Trump's administration a legal victory on Tuesday, finding that the U.S. DOGE Service can access sensitive federal data despite serious privacy concerns.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled 2-1 that a group that included labor unions and individuals who receive government benefits failed to prove they could succeed in their legal challenge, The Washington Post reported.
The group had sought to prevent DOGE from accessing personal information held by the Treasury Department, Office of Personnel Management and Education Department. They argued such access would run afoul of federal privacy laws.
But the appeals court rejected their argument, saying they "struggled to show" they suffered harm. Judge Julius Richardson, a Trump nominee, noted in the ruling that federal privacy laws do "not prohibit sharing information with those whose jobs give them good reason to access it."
Furthermore, the judge said it stands to reason that DOGE affiliates charged with "modernizing an agency’s software and IT systems" would need "administrator-level access to those systems, including any internal databases.”