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An appeals court has cleared the way for the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — an agency that has dismantled the federal government through mass layoffs and agency closures — to gain access to information on millions of Americans collected by the Department of Education and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

In January, President Trump established DOGE via executive order and directed federal agencies to provide the new department with access to “all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems” as part of its efforts to “maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”

The American Federation of Teachers and other labor unions, as well as veterans groups, filed suit, and in February, U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman

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