Judge temporarily bars DOGE from accessing private Social Security data

A federal judge in Maryland temporarily stopped the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, from viewing the personal data of millions of Americans stored by the Social Security Administration. U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander further ordered Elon Musk’s team to delete any identifying information they already obtained from SSA records. Sensitive data included Social Security numbers, medical records, driver’s license numbers, bank information, tax information, and birth and marriage certificates, to name a few.

Why does DOGE insist that it needs access to the personal information? The Trump administration has previously insisted that access is necessary in order to root out fraud, waste and abuse within the Social Security system. Multitudes of active Social Security members are listed as over 100 years old, with one reported as 360 years old, Trump said while addressing a joint session of Congress earlier this month. A 2024 report from the Office of Inspector General found that Social Security issued nearly $72 billion in improper payments over seven years, from 2015 through 2022.

What’s wrong with a government entity viewing information collected by a fellow government agency? Groups of retirees and unions sued the Trump administration last month and argued that DOGE had no legal authority to seize confidential information on beneficiaries. The illegal collection of information also presented a serious security risk, according to the complaint. The DOGE team never truly explained why it needed unlimited access to all Social Security records during its audit, Hollander wrote in her Thursday memorandum. The DOGE team is on a fishing expedition based only on suspicion, she added.

Dig deeper: Read my report from earlier this week on new identity measures SSA plans to implement to reduce fraud.