Judge temporarily blocks DOGE access to Social Security records
A federal judge in Maryland on Thursday temporarily blocked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing millions of Americans’ personal data stored by the Social Security Administration (SSA).
In a scathing, 137-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander sharply questioned DOGE’s unfettered access to Americans’ personally identifiable information. She blocked the advisory group from the SSA’s systems containing such data and ordered the deletion of any in DOGE’s possession.
“The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion,” Hollander wrote. “It has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle is actually in the haystack.”
A coalition of government unions sued over DOGE’s access to the SSA, claiming it flouts privacy laws and the agency’s own rules and regulations.
The information in the the SSA’s records includes Social Security numbers, medical and mental health records, bank data and earnings history.
In her ruling, Hollander said the government has “not even attempted” to explain why DOGE needs such sweeping access to Americans’ personal data, instead repeating its refrain that DOGE’s mission to root out fraud and modernize the bureaucracy must not be hindered.
“Its method of doing so is tantamount to hitting a fly with a sledgehammer,” the judge wrote.