A federal judge blocked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, from accessing the Social Security Administration’s systems containing personal data of millions of Americans this Thursday, calling the effort a “fishing expedition.”
The decision by U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander of Maryland also requires the agency’s team to delete any personally identifiable information they may have. This ruling comes after unions and retirees requested an emergency order to limit DOGE’s access to the agency and its personal data repositories.
They argued that DOGE’s “virtually unlimited” access violates privacy laws and poses significant information security risks. A former Social Security Administration official who recently left her position and witnessed DOGE’s team enter the agency expressed “deep concern” over the potential exposure of sensitive information.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has stated that DOGE has a team of 10 federal employees within the Social Security Administration (SSA), seven of whom have been granted read-only access to the agency’s systems or personally identifiable information. The department has reportedly obtained access to other government databases as well, including those of the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service.
“DOGE’s team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition within the SSA, searching for an alleged fraud epidemic based on little more than suspicion,” Judge Hollander wrote.
Government attorneys argued that DOGE’s access does not significantly deviate from standard agency practices, where employees are routinely allowed to search databases. However, the plaintiffs’ attorneys countered that this level of access was “unprecedented.”
Hollander, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama, is the latest judge to rule on a case related to DOGE. The team has faced nearly two dozen lawsuits, some of which have shed light on its personnel and operations—most of which have remained secret.
