A divided federal appeals court on Monday paused a preliminary injunction that had prevented the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Education from releasing sensitive data to Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
In a 2-1 vote, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the injunction imposed by U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in Greenbelt, Maryland, pending an appeal.
The Richmond, Virginia-based appeals court also voted 8-7 against taking up the matter “en banc”, in which all active judges would decide. Two judges appointed by Democratic presidents joined six Republican appointees in that majority.
DOGE was created to advance U.S. President Donald Trump’s effort to downsize the federal government.
Violating Privacy
Groups including the American Federation of Teachers sued to prevent Musk’s team from reviewing data including Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, income, citizenship status and student loan borrowings for millions of Americans.
They claimed that letting DOGE see the data violated people’s privacy and could let the government use the data for other purposes, such as to advance Trump’s immigration goals.
The Department of the Treasury, which maintains systems for disbursing Social Security benefits, income tax refunds and other sums, was also sued.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a similar request.
Musk To Leave DOGE
Meanwhile, Trump has informed his Cabinet and close associates that his billionaire ally, Elon Musk, will soon step down from his government role, Politico reported Wednesday, citing three sources.
Trump has tasked the Tesla and SpaceX CEO with leading efforts to cut government funding and dismantle various U.S. agencies as a special government employee.
Politico reported that both Trump and Musk decided in recent days that Musk will soon return to his businesses, but gave no specific date.
Asked if he wanted Musk to stay longer than his 130-day term, Trump told reporters: “I think he’s amazing, but I also think he’s got a big company to run. At some point, he’s going to be going back. He wants to.”
Based on a 130-day term, Musk’s time as a special government employee would be set to end as soon as the end of May. He told Fox News last week that he was confident he would finish most of the work to cut $1 trillion in federal spending.
(With inputs from Reuters)
