Federal employee unions secured a legal victory this week when a federal court issued an order blocking the Office of Personnel Management from giving the so-called Department of Government Efficiency access to its records.
Senior Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said in a ruling Monday granting a preliminary injunction that the public interest “strongly favors injunctive relief.”
Cote found that OPM had disclosed its records, which include personal information of federal employees, retirees, contractors and others, to individuals who did not have a legal right to view them.
“This was a breach of law and of trust,” wrote Cote, a Clinton appointee, in the opinion. “Tens of millions of Americans depend on the Government to safeguard records that reveal their most private and sensitive affairs.”
