Tennessee police release video of Kilmar Abrego Garcia traffic stop in
2022
[May 03, 2025]
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on
Friday to clear the way for Elon Musk ’s Department of Government
Efficiency to access Social Security systems containing personal data on
millions of Americans.
The emergency appeal is the first in a string of applications to the
high court involving DOGE's swift-moving work across the federal
government.
It comes after a judge in Maryland restricted the team's access to
Social Security under federal privacy laws. The agency holds personal
records on nearly everyone in the country, including school records,
bank details, salary information and medical and mental health records
for disability recipients, according to court documents.
The government says the team needs access to target waste in the federal
government. Musk, now preparing to step back from his work with DOGE,
has been focused on Social Security as an alleged hotbed of fraud. The
billionaire entrepreneur has described it as a “ Ponzi scheme ” and
insisted that reducing waste in the program is an important way to cut
government spending.
Solicitor General John Sauer argued Friday that the judge’s restrictions
disrupt DOGE’s important work and inappropriately interfere with
executive-branch decisions. “Left undisturbed, this preliminary
injunction will only invite further judicial incursions into internal
agency decision-making,” he wrote.
He asked the justices to block the order from U.S. District Judge Ellen
Hollander in Maryland as the lawsuit plays out.
An appeals court previously refused to immediately to lift the block on
DOGE access, though it split along ideological lines. Conservative
judges in the minority said there’s no evidence that the team has done
any “targeted snooping” or exposed personal information.
[to top of second column]
|
Elon Musk flashes his T-shirt that reads "DOGE" to the media as he
walks on South Lawn of the White House, in Washington, March 9,
2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
The lawsuit was originally filed by a group of labor unions and
retirees represented by the group Democracy Forward. The Supreme
Court asked them for a response to the administration's appeal by
May 12.
More than two dozen lawsuits have been filed over DOGE's work, which
has included deep cuts at federal agencies and large-scale layoffs.
Hollander found that DOGE's efforts at Social Security amounted to a
“fishing expedition” based on “little more than suspicion” of fraud.
Her order does allow staffers to access data that has been made
anonymous, but the Trump administration has said DOGE can't work
effectively with those restrictions.
Elizabeth Laird with the nonprofit group Center for Democracy and
Technology said wide-ranging access to sensitive personal data poses
a serious threat. “If DOGE gets a hold of this information, it opens
the floodgates on a host of potential harms. It also normalizes a
very dangerous practice for other federal agencies,” she said.
The nation's court system has been ground zero for pushback to
President Donald Trump’s sweeping conservative agenda, with about
200 lawsuits filed challenging policies on everything from
immigration to education to mass layoffs of federal workers.
Among those that have reached the Supreme Court so far, the justices
have handed down some largely procedural rulings siding with the
administration but have rejected the government’s broad arguments in
other cases.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
