Big news in one of the six lawsuits Public Citizen has filed so far against the
Trump regime.

We’re so busy suing Trump that we haven’t even had time to tell you much about
this particular case.

Here are the basics:

* In order to apply for and participate in federal financial aid programs,
students must submit sensitive personal information to the Department of
Education and authorize the Department to access their tax records.

* The Department of Education retains this information for millions of current
and former students and their family members.

* Under the federal Privacy Act, the Internal Revenue Code, and the Department
of Education’s own regulations, access to these records is strictly
controlled, and these records may be used only for specified purposes.

* Yet Elon Musk’s “DOGE” squad got access to the computer systems that house
this data.

* Last Friday, Public Citizen — representing the University of California
Student Association, with co-counsel at Student Defense — sued to block
“DOGE” from perpetrating this massive, dangerous, and unprecedented invasion
of privacy.

* “DOGE” has also infiltrated other federal agencies, including the Treasury
Department. After we sued to stop that, the judge restricted “DOGE” access at
least until a hearing in two weeks.

On Monday, we asked the judge to issue a temporary restraining order against
what “DOGE” is attempting at the Department of Education.

Then — just yesterday afternoon — the judge issued an order restricting “DOGE”
access at the Department of Education at least until February 17 while our
lawsuit goes forward.

We will be back in court this Friday to make the case that “DOGE” should be
locked out of the Department of Education permanently.

Again, this is one of six lawsuits Public Citizen has already filed over
unlawful actions by the Trump regime — we’ve been emailing you updates about
some of the others — and there are more to come.

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right, we get it. Either way, we wanted to keep you updated on how we’re
challenging the Trump regime.

Thank you for being part of this shared project called Public Citizen.

For justice and democracy,

- Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen


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