NEW: DOGE Wins Legal Battle Launched By Liberal Group

Lawyers representing the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency struck gold after a federal judge sided with Elon Musk over liberal groups that brought a nuisance lawsuit gumming up his effort to dismantle the Department of Education.

Musk had originally sought privileged access to data on tens of thousands of federal student loans issued by DOE but was stymied after the University of California Student Association filed suit, alleging the billionaire tech entrepreneur was causing them “irreparable harm.”

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss ruled the students had not made their case, and DOGE would be allowed to move forward with its investigation.

“Because the Court concludes that UCSA has failed to clear that essential hurdle, the Court’s analysis also ends there,” Moss, an Obama appointee, wrote in his decision.

“The Court leaves for another day consideration of whether UCSA’s has standing to sue and has stated a claim upon which relief may be granted. Those questions are less clear cut and are better answered on a more complete record,” Moss continued, The Hill reports.

Musk’s lightning-speed crusade to downsize the federal government has set off a chain reaction of outcries by anti-Trump forces eager to use every legal tool at their disposal to slow down his reforms. Despite suffering more than a dozen setbacks, the Trump administration is beginning to see court decisions gradually trend in its favor.

Last week a federal judge in Boston granted President Donald Trump permission to forge ahead with a buyout plan that is expected to trim at least three percent of the federal workforce. In that case, U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. found that unions who brought the suit lacked legal standing to do so.

Judge Moss added that Musk’s actions will not prevent the students’ data from being jeopardized, as DOGE is still obligated to operate under the federal Privacy Act.

“ED and DOGE staffers are obligated to use UCSA members’ information for lawful purposes within the mission of the Department of Education and to keep it confidential, in accordance with the Privacy Act, tax laws, and other federal law,” Moss noted in his ruling.

“We are disappointed by the Court’s ruling. Students across the United States are already feeling the irreparable effects associated with the massive invasion of privacy that comes from the Department of Education turning over their sensitive data to DOGE,” Adam Pulver, an attorney at Public Citizen, the liberal group representing UCLA students, said in a statement.

“The Court did not, however, suggest that DOGE’s access to this data was legal, and confirmed that DOGE affiliates must comply with legal requirements in accessing and sharing sensitive data. As the case moves forward, we expect to learn more about just what DOGE is doing,” Pulver continued.

Moss’s decision comes just days after another judge ruled that plaintiffs could not stop DOGE from undertaking similar cost-cutting investigations at the Labor Department, Department of Health and Human Services and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

However, DOGE must still contend with a third judge’s ruling blocking its access to sensitive Treasury records which contain transaction data on trillions of dollars doled out each year by the federal government. Critics have charged that Musk and DOGE were improperly installed and created by President Trump without congressional oversight.

“He is not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service or U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization. Mr. Musk is not the U.S. DOGE Service Administrator,” Joshua Fisher, the director of the White House administration office, wrote in the government’s defense for the case.