Federal judge blocks Trump administration's centralized personal-data database
A federal judge on June 22 blocked the Trump administration from assembling a single, government-wide database that would have combined Social Security numbers, citizenship status and other personal information drawn from across federal agencies.
The administration had moved to pool records that are normally siloed under separate agency mandates and legal authorities. The ruling halts that consolidation, finding the effort exceeded the government’s authority to repurpose data collected for narrower ends.
The decision is consequential beyond this one program. Federal privacy law generally restricts agencies from sharing personal records outside the purpose for which they were gathered, and a centralized cross-agency file would let the government track and cross-reference individuals at a scale that the siloed structure was designed to prevent. The administration can appeal, and the underlying question of how far agencies may combine their data is likely to recur.