DOGE blocked in court from Social Security systems with Americans'
personal information, for now
[March 21, 2025]
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked
billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from Social
Security systems that hold personal data on millions of Americans,
calling their work there a “fishing expedition.”
The order also requires the team to delete any personally identifiable
data in their possession.
U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander in Maryland found that the team got
broad access to sensitive information at the Social Security
Administration to search for fraud with little justification.
“The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in
search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion,” she
wrote.
The order does allow DOGE staffers to access to data that's been
redacted or stripped of anything personally identifiable, if they
undergo training and background checks.
“To be sure, rooting out possible fraud, waste, and mismanagement in the
SSA is in the public interest. But, that does not mean that the
government can flout the law to do so,” Hollander wrote.
The Trump administration says DOGE is targeting waste in the federal
government. Musk has been focused on Social Security as an alleged
hotbed of fraud, describing it as a “ ponzi scheme ” and insisting that
reducing waste in the program is an important way to cut government
spending.
The ruling, which could be challenged on appeal, comes in a lawsuit
filed by labor unions, retirees and the advocacy group Democracy
Forward. They argued that DOGE access violates privacy laws and presents
serious information security risks. The lawsuit included a declaration
from 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 White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
DOGE detailed a 10-person team of federal employees at the SSA, seven of
whom were granted read-only access to agency systems or personally
identifiable information, according to court documents.
The staffers were all federal employees allowed to access the data under
federal privacy laws, the government argued, and there's no evidence
that any personal data was improperly shared.
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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)
The Justice Department also said that DOGE access doesn’t deviate
significantly from normal practices inside the agency, where
employees are routinely allowed to search its databases. But
attorneys for the plaintiffs called the access unprecedented.
Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees, called the ruling a “major win for working
people and retirees across the country.”
Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, said that “the court
recognized the real and immediate dangers of DOGE’s reckless actions
and took action to stop it.”
DOGE has gotten at least some access to other government databases,
including at the Treasury Department and IRS.
At SSA, 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 to Tiffany Flick, the former acting
chief of staff to the acting commissioner.
Hollander, 75, who is based in Baltimore and was nominated by
President Barack Obama, is the latest judge to consider a DOGE
related case.
The team has drawn nearly two dozen lawsuits. Earlier this week
another Maryland judge found that DOGE's dismantling of United
States Agency for International Development was likely
unconstitutional.
While other judges have raised questions about DOGE’s sweeping
cost-cutting efforts, they have not always agreed any risks are
imminent enough to block the team from government systems.
___
Associated Press writers Chris Megerian and Lea Skene in Baltimore
contributed reporting.
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