The Office of Personnel Management illegally shared federal employee records with members of the Department of Government Efficiency, a U.S. district judge in New York has ruled. In a Tuesday ruling, Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said OPM granted DOGE agents access to systems holding records for tens of millions of past, current and aspiring federal workers without a credible reason, FedScoop reported.

Source: FedScoop — OPM illegally shared millions of employee records with DOGE, federal judge rules

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which represents the workers and their unions in the case, said the summary judgment issued on October 20 found OPM violated two provisions of the Privacy Act — one restricting disclosure of personal records between agencies and another requiring agencies to protect the security and confidentiality of records. EFF quoted Cote: OPM's decision to grant DOGE agents broad access to its systems of records containing personally identifiable information 'has been held unlawful.'

Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation — Court rules OPM data disclosure to DOGE is unlawful

Bloomberg Law reported Cote said there was no meaningful dispute that OPM violated the Privacy Act, that she had blocked DOGE's access in a June 2025 order, and that DOGE has since been dissolved, only one of its agents is still at OPM, and no DOGE agent has accessed sensitive OPM data since September 2025. Those changes raise significant questions about what, if any, relief is necessary, she said.

Source: Bloomberg Law — DOGE unlawfully accessed government personnel data, judge rules

2Privacy Act violations found by Judge Cote — EFF / FedScoop
Tens of millionsWorkers whose records sit in the OPM systems at issue — FedScoop
Oct. 20Date of the summary judgment ruling — EFF

FedScoop reported the government provided no explanation for why DOGE's purported modernization efforts needed access to personally identifiable information when that access was not needed in past modernization efforts. EFF said many DOGE agents have since left government and OPM has rescinded their database access, but the court will decide the remedy at a later date; the workers have asked, among other things, for deletion of any extracted data, FedScoop reported.

What is solid

  • Judge Denise Cote ruled OPM violated the Privacy Act in granting DOGE broad access to federal worker records — FedScoop, EFF and Bloomberg Law.
  • The ruling was summary judgment on October 20; the remedy has not yet been decided — EFF and FedScoop.
  • OPM has rescinded the DOGE agents' database access — EFF.

What is only claimed

  • What relief, if any, the court will order remains open — Bloomberg Law reported Cote said post-ruling changes raise significant questions about necessary relief.