Federal judge considers blocking DOGE from accessing Social Security
data of millions of Americans
[March 15, 2025]
By LEA SKENE and LINDSAY WHITEHURST
BALTIMORE (AP) — A federal judge is considering whether to temporarily
block Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing
Social Security Administration systems that hold sensitive data on
millions of Americans.
A group of labor unions and retirees sued the Trump administration and
asked the court to issue an emergency order limiting DOGE’s access to
the agency and its data.
DOGE’s “nearly unlimited” access violates privacy laws and presents
massive information security risks, they said. A recently departed
Social Security official who saw the DOGE team sweep into the agency
said she is deeply worried about sensitive information being exposed.
The administration has said DOGE is targeting waste and fraud in the
federal government.
During a Friday hearing on the issue in federal court in Baltimore, U.S.
District Judge Ellen Hollander repeatedly questioned attorneys for the
government about why the DOGE team needed such a large quantity of
sensitive personal information about Social Security recipients,
including health records for disability applicants. She questioned
whether a more targeted approach would allow DOGE to uncover improper
payments without accessing so much data.
“This is like hitting a fly with a sledgehammer,” she said of the Trump
administration’s approach.
While alluding to technical issues that could affect her ruling, the
judge said she was struggling to understand why DOGE’s actions were
necessary, calling them “extremely worrisome and surprising.”
“What’s the excuse for that — or the justification?” she asked.
The Trump administration says DOGE has a 10-person team of federal
employees at the Social Security Administration, seven of whom have been
granted read-only access to agency systems or personally identifiable
information. They have received privacy training, and eight had passed
background checks as of Wednesday, government lawyers said in court
documents.
They argued in court that the DOGE access doesn’t deviate significantly
from normal practices inside the agency, where employees and auditors
are routinely allowed to search its databases.
But attorneys for the plaintiffs called it unprecedented.
“This is, in fact, a sea change” in terms of how the agency protects
personal information, said Alethea Anne Swift, an attorney with the
legal services group Democracy Forward, which is behind the lawsuit.
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Demonstrators gather outside of the Edward A. Garmatz United States
District Courthouse in Baltimore, on Friday, March 14, 2025, before
a hearing regarding the Department of Government Efficiency's access
to Social Security data. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Outside the courthouse ahead of the hearing, dozens of union workers
and retirees rallied in support of the plaintiffs and expressed
concern over whether their Social Security benefits are at risk.
“We want Elon Musk and the DOGE group to take their hands off Social
Security,” said Ronnie Bailey, 75, a retired Maryland corrections
officer and Vietnam veteran. “When you talk about people’s
lifelines, Social Security is not waste.”
Agnes Watkins, a retired nurse, said she relies on Social Security
checks to pay her mortgage and cover other basic necessities. She
said she’s disturbed at the thought that “anybody can just come in
and gain access to private information.”
“It doesn’t feel secure,” she said.
The group held signs calling for the protection of Social Security
benefits and shouted “Down with DOGE" and other chants.
DOGE has also accessed other government databases, including at the
Treasury and IRS.
At Social Security, DOGE staffers swept into the agency days after
Trump’s inauguration and pressed for a software engineer to quickly
get access to data systems that are normally carefully restricted
even within the government, a former official said in court
documents.
The team appeared to be searching for fraud based on inaccuracies
and misunderstandings, according Tiffany Flick, the former acting
chief of staff to the acting commissioner.
“I am deeply concerned about DOGE’s access to SSA systems and the
potential to inappropriately and inaccurately disclose this
information, especially given the rushed nature in which we were
required to onboard,” she said.
Hollander, who is based in Baltimore and was appointed by President
Barack Obama, is the latest judge to consider a DOGE related case.
The team has drawn nearly two dozen lawsuits, some of which have
shed light on staffing and operations that have largely been kept
under wraps.
Several judges have raised questions about DOGE’s sweeping
cost-cutting efforts, but they have not always agreed that the risks
are imminent enough to block the team from government systems.
___
Whitehurst reported from Washington.
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