Judge blocks DOGE from accessing sensitive information at US agencies

A federal judge on Monday blocked billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing people’s private data at the Education Department, the Treasury Department and the Office of Personnel Management.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman issued a preliminary injunction in a case filed last month by a coalition of labor unions in federal court in Maryland. Led by the American Federation of Teachers, the plaintiffs allege Trump's administration violated federal privacy laws when it gave DOGE access to systems with personal information on tens of millions of Americans without their consent.

Boardman, who was nominated to the federal bench by former President Joe Biden, had previously issued a temporary restraining order. The preliminary injunction offers longer-term relief blocking DOGE access as the case plays out.

The judge found the Trump administration likely violated the law. She said the government failed to adequately explain why DOGE needed access to “millions of records” to perform its job duties.

She also said the Trump administration can still carry out the president’s agenda without receiving unfettered access to a trove of personal data on federal employees and people with student loans and government benefits. That includes their income and asset information, Social Security numbers, birth dates, home addresses and marital and citizenship status.

“They trusted the federal government to safeguard their information. That public trust likely has been breached,” Boardman wrote in her opinion.

The lawsuit accused the Trump administration of handing over sensitive data for reasons beyond its intended use, violating the Privacy Act. Instead of carrying out the functions of the federal student loan program, the lawsuit says, DOGE has been accessing loan data “for purposes of destroying” the Education Department.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week to dismantle the department, saying that student loans will be handled by the Small Business Administration and programs involving students with disabilities will be shifted to the Department of Health and Human Services.

His administration says DOGE is targeting waste across the federal government by addressing alleged fraud and upgrading technology.

One of the nation’s largest teachers unions, the American Federation of Teachers says it represents 1.8 million workers in education, health care and government. Also joining the suit were six people with sensitive information stored in federal systems, including military veterans who received federal student loans and other federal benefit payments.

The suit also was backed by the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

The injunction, which could be challenged on appeal, is limited to protecting the personal information of the individual plaintiffs and members of the groups.

“No matter how important or urgent the President’s DOGE agenda may be, federal agencies must execute it in accordance with the law,” Boardman wrote. “That likely did not happen in this case.”

In a separate Maryland case last week, a judge temporarily blocked DOGE from accessing Social Security databases that similarly contain vast amounts of personal information.

FILE - Demonstrators gather outside of the Edward A. Garmatz United States District Courthouse in Baltimore, on Friday, March 14, 2025, before a hearing regarding the Department of Government Efficiency's access to Social Security data. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday will announce tariffs on auto imports, a move that the White House claims would foster domestic manufacturing but could also put a financial squeeze on automakers that depend on global supply chains.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the tariffs would be detailed at a 4 p.m. EST news conference. Leavitt said that she would leave it to the Republican president to flesh out his plans to tax foreign-made autos and parts, which could be complicated as even U.S. automakers source their components from around the world.

Shares in General Motors have fallen roughly 1.7% in Wednesday afternoon trading. Ford's stock was down roughly 1.2%. Shares in Stellantis, the owner of Jeep and Chrysler, have dropped 2%.

Trump has long said that tariffs against auto imports would be a defining policy of his presidency, betting that the costs created by the taxes would cause more production to relocate in the United States. But U.S. and foreign automakers with domestic plants still depend on Canada, Mexico and other nations for parts and finished vehicles, meaning that auto prices could increase and sales could decline as new factories take time to build.

“We are going to be doing automobiles, which you’ve known about for a long time,” Trump said Monday. “We’ll be announcing that fairly soon, over the next few days probably."

The auto tariffs are part of a broader reshaping of global relations by Trump, who plans to impose what he calls “reciprocal” taxes on April 2 that would match the tariffs, sales taxes charged by other nations.

Trump has already placed a 20% import tax on all imports from China for its role in the production of fentanyl. He similarly placed 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, with a lower 10% tax on Canadian energy products. Parts of the Mexico and Canada tariffs have been suspended, including the taxes on autos after automakers objected and Trump responded by giving them a 30-day reprieve that is set to expire in April.

The president has also imposed 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, removing the exemptions from his earlier 2018 taxes on the metals. He also plans tariffs on computer chips, pharmaceutical drugs, lumber and copper.

His taxes risk igniting a broader global trade war with escalating retaliations that could crush global trade, potentially hurting economic growth while raising prices for families and businesses as some of the costs of the taxes get passed along by importers. When the Europe Union retaliated with plans for a 50% tariff on U.S. spirits, Trump responded by planning a 200% tax on alcoholic beverages from the EU.

Trump's aides maintain the tariffs on Canada and Mexico are about stopping illegal immigration and drug smuggling. But the administration also wants to use the tariff revenues to lower the budget deficit and assert America's preeminence as the world's largest economy.

Leavitt is one of three Trump administration officials who face a lawsuit from The Associated Press on First and Fifth Amendment grounds. The AP says the three are punishing the news agency for editorial decisions they oppose. The White House says the AP is not following an executive order to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

President Donald Trump arrives at the annual St. Patrick's Day luncheon at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)