A federal judge has denied a motion by labor unions to block Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing systems within the Department of Labor, marking a legal victory for the Trump administration’s government reform efforts.
The lawsuit, filed by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) along with four affiliated unions and the Economic Policy Institute, sought to prevent Musk’s team from reviewing Labor Department data.
The unions claimed that allowing DOGE access would violate the Privacy Act of 1974 and potentially compromise workers’ private information.
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler strongly criticized the move, arguing that Musk had no legal authority to obtain such data. “Elon Musk has absolutely no business raiding the Department of Labor to obtain the sensitive personal information of workers,” Shuler said. “It’s outrageous that Musk thinks he has the authority to access private data on workers from an agency that’s entrusted with protecting the fundamental rights of working people.”
Despite these concerns, U.S. District Judge John Bates, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, ruled that the plaintiffs failed to establish legal standing, a necessary requirement for the case to proceed.
Bates found