The US District Court for the District of Columbia temporarily blocked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on Wednesday from accessing sensitive data and systems within the Department of Labor until Friday. The order follows the lawsuit filed by a coalition of federal unions seeking to prevent the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive data and systems within the Department of Labor.

The lawsuit contends that DOGE’s attempts to obtain such information are unlawful and pose significant risks to both federal employees and the public, with the coalition including the American Federal of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and the American Federation of Government Employees. The organizations argue that DOGE’s actions could compromise confidential information, including personal data of federal employees and critical economic statistics managed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, asserting that such unauthorized access not only violates legal protections but also threatens the integrity of federal operations.

Similarly, the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees and the Employees International Union represented by Public Citizen and State Democracy Defenders Fund sued the Department of the Treasury for granting DOGE staff access to highly sensitive information about taxpayers and others who send and receive payments from the government on Monday.  Two employees of the Office of Personnel Management also sued their employer for failing to meet their legal obligation put forth in the E-Government Act of 2002.

DOGE has also been facing lawsuits from multiple groups since hours after President Trump’s inauguration in January, arguing that DOGE lacks transparency and oversight. This is because DOGE does not have the official status of a federal department and therefore the Federal Advisory Committee Act does not apply to DOGE.

President Trump created DOGE through an executive order. Trump appointed Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who pledged in November 2024 to “improve government efficiency” by removing regulations made by unelected bureaucrats when DOGE’s mandate begins.