A federal judge on Friday declined to block Elon Musk's government cost-cutting department from accessing the U.S. Department of Labor's systems, an initial setback for the government employee unions resisting his efforts to shrink the federal bureaucracy.

Marko Elez, the DOGE staffer who resigned after racist social media posts including a call to "normalize Indian hate" surfaced, will return to work for Musk, the billionaire announced.

An overhaul led by President Donald Trump ’s billionaire ally Elon Musk —who has called the agency a “ball of worms”—has already seen hundreds of internal contractors let go and scores of remaining staff placed on leave.