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The access that Elon Musk had strictly adhered to government data (including the confidential information it collected about American citizens and collected) was swift over how President Donald Trump tried to significantly change federal bureaucracy. It is an important battle of legal war that moves to.
Several lawsuits accused of controlling Privacy Act and other protections when they allegedly allow mask-driven government efficiency affiliates to take control of highly restricted government IT systems. I’m doing it. While judges may schedule hearings with a few hours of notice, they understand what Doge affiliates are doing and reach the digital infrastructure that carries some of the most basic businesses. I tried to understand that.
“We don’t have much facts other than what’s in the media,” Judge Colleen Coller Coterry told administrative lawyers in a case relating to the government’s system to send trillions of dollars each year. Ta.
Already, lawsuits have been challenged by the Bureau of Personal Management, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Labor to seize keys to the IT system, challenging the alleged lawsuit taken by Musk Associates. Doge affiliates are aiming to data sensitive to several other agencies, including the U.S. International Development Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which could lead to more lawsuits. There is. Federal Health Program.
Democrats attorney generals in dozens of states said they plan to add them to the heap of lawsuits Thursday as well.
What kind of review musk allies set up in federal bureaucratic agents with temporary status known as “special government officials” before they are usually under the helm of a small system It is not clear if there are people there. A group of career federal employees. The Trump administration also hasn’t happened in what restrictions are placed on data use, despite the system being normally covered by federal privacy laws.
“It’s not just these civil servants and these agents of Elon Musk,” said Kathleen Clark, a University of Washington law professor who specializes in law and government ethics. “It’s also a question of whether these agents in Elon Musk have been illegally accessed and downloaded to information protected by law.”
In the face of allegations of illegal access, the Department of Justice has said in court that appropriate protocols are being followed and that the security of such data has not been breached.
The data-focused lawsuit accuses other newly filed cases of significantly changing how masks and other cases operate without the authority to do so. You could face one wave of legal scrutiny. However, the claims of privacy were part of the spear in legal efforts to slow Musk’s unprecedented, highly destructive march through the federal bureaucracy.
“You can’t bring everyone you want to the federal government. It’s not like the private sector,” Virginia Kanter, the lead ethics advisor to the citizens for the responsibility and ethics of Washington or crew members. I said that. “There are laws that protect people’s access to information collected by the government.”
In a statement, the White House defended Doge’s efforts, saying that reforms were being carried out by appropriate government officials rather than external advisors.
“To cut back on waste, fraud and abuse and become a better custodian of the hard-earned dollars for American taxpayers may be a crime for Democrats, but it’s not a crime in court,” spokeswoman. said Harrison Fields of Mann.
The financial lawsuit has already brought an agreement from the Trump administration that while the lawsuit progresses, it will have access to a government payment system run by the Finance Bureau of the Treasury Department.
Justice Department lawyers had to face questions in court about the state of play around the data system and why Doge wanted to access them, but those lawyers have no clear answers. That was it.
Attorney Bradley Humphries said at a Treasury Department’s hearing Wednesday, “I don’t know if I can’t say I’m doing anything,” and attorney Bradley Humphries violated American personal information. He said he emphasized that the department believes there was none. .
Although it doesn’t aim directly for Doge, another lawsuit against the Trump administration has generated similar hedges from government lawyers.
Several FBI employees, along with the agency’s union, sued the Department of Justice over gathering information from department staff to identify people who worked at Capitol Riot Probes on January 6, including the Trump investigation. Ta. The lawsuit alleges that the release of names or other information about employees who worked on the probe poses a significant risk to their safety.
At a hearing Thursday, the employee’s lawyer raised concerns that masks or his allies could access the DOJ computer containing information. At the court, the administration’s lawyers were unable to say with certainty who would have access to the data in the future, and a proposed temporary agreement that would prevent anyone in the government from making information public. I resisted resisting against signing.
“There was no official disclosure outside the department,” said DOJ lawyer Jeremy Simon, who acknowledged that other government officials could have access to the list through “unofficial” means. Ta.
Judge Jia Cobb issued an administrative order on Friday to maintain the status quo until another hearing.
The administration said on Thursday that a judge rejected a recent urgent request by the Trump administration to stop using the government-wide email delivery system, and raised security concerns to protect civil servant personal data. He refused the emergency request and managed to avoid one of the trials. .
Judge Randy Moss told challengers to redo their case after saying that the Personnel Management Bureau had conducted the necessary privacy assessments that were the basis for the case.
However, legal risks remain for other aspects of Doge’s broad data mining mission.
The Treasury and FBI cases will continue in the coming weeks. On Friday, the judge will consider a request for a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit that blocks several federal unions and others from accessing sensitive data at the Department of Labor.
In the court application, the challenger allegedly was told that if the system was not opened to newcomers in the government, department employees would be fired.
Their lawsuit says, according to data system security, “contains the most personal and sensitive employees and medical information about almost every worker in America.”
In the declaration on Thursday evening, detailed Doge representatives of the department will follow all legal rules in which he and others like him control the data and comply with directives from the agency leaders. I stated.
This story has been updated with additional responses.
CNN’s Tami Luhby, Ella Nilsen and Rene Marsh contributed to this report.
