The Dispute Index

Denise Cote

Denise Cote is a senior U.S. district judge for the Southern District of New York. President Bill Clinton appointed her in 1994, and she took senior status in 2011. She earlier served as an assistant U.S. attorney in that district, including three years as chief of its Criminal Division.

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What DI has documented

DI has documented statements by Denise Cote on Cybersecurity and Privacy. Read the quotations, original sources and related cases below.

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Statements by Denise Cote

Denise Cote

Role at the time: U.S. district judge, Southern District of New York

Condemned

Statement summary

In her October 20 opinion, Judge Denise Cote rules that OPM acted unlawfully when it gave DOGE agents broad access to systems holding personal information without a demonstrated need. Because the access has been rescinded, she says it does not need to be set aside.

“OPM’s decision to grant DOGE Agents broad access to its systems of records containing PII without a demonstrated need was unlawful”
Read the original text (opens in a new tab)AFGE v. OPM: October 20 opinion and order on summary judgmentNo. 1:25-cv-01237-DLC, Document 241; pages 1-5, 29-31 and 34-38
Why we used this label

The case concerns OPM's decision to give DOGE agents access to federal personnel records. Cote rules that the decision was unlawful, which condemns the conduct under scrutiny.

Read statementJudge Cote rules OPM's DOGE data access broke the Privacy Act; the government argues no relief is needed

A participant is a subject of the case. A speaker has a statement documented in it. A commentator has an opinion or editorial documented in it.