A federal judge on Monday temporarily barred the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing troves of sensitive personal data from the Department of Education and the Office of Personnel Management. U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman ruled that the agencies and their staff may not disclose the personally identifiable information (PII) of those who apply for or receive federal student aid. The American Federation of Teachers, a union representing more than 1.8 million educators, had sued to keep DOGE workers out of the department’s data systems, which it said contained private information that its members had submitted in connection with student aid for themselves or their families. The Trump administration had argued that DOGE affiliates, specifically at Education, needed access to that information in order to assist in a department-wide auditing of contract, grants and related programs for waste, fraud and abuse.