By LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court cleared the way Friday for the Department of Government Efficiency to access Social Security systems containing personal data on millions of Americans.
The court majority sided with the Trump administration in its first Supreme Court appeal involving DOGE, the team once led by billionaire Elon Musk. The three liberal justices dissented.
The high court halted an order from a judge in Maryland restricting the team’s access to the Social Security Administration under federal privacy laws.
The agency holds sensitive data on nearly everyone in the country, including school records, salary details and medical information.
The Trump administration says DOGE needs access to carry out its mission of targeting waste and fraud in the federal government. Musk had been focused on Social Security as an alleged hotbed of fraud. The billionaire entrepreneur, who has stepped back from his work with DOGE, has described it as a “ Ponzi scheme ” and insisted that reducing waste in the program is an important way to cut government spending.
U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander in Maryland found that DOGE’s efforts at Social Security amounted to a “fishing expedition” based on “little more than suspicion” of fraud, and allowing unfettered access puts Americans’ private information at risk.
Her ruling did allow access to anonymous data for staffers who have undergone training and background checks, or wider access for those who have detailed a specific need.
The Trump administration has said DOGE can’t work effectively with those restrictions.
Solicitor General John Sauer also argued that the ruling is an example of federal judges overstepping their authority and trying to micromanage executive branch agencies.
The plaintiffs say it’s a narrow order that’s urgently needed to protect personal information.
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.
The lawsuit was originally filed by a group of labor unions and retirees represented by the group Democracy Forward. It’s one of more than two dozen lawsuits filed over DOGE’s work, which has included deep cuts at federal agencies and large-scale layoffs.
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.
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