A federal judge in Maryland issued a temporary restraining order impeding Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from obtaining sensitive information at the Social Security Administration (SSA).
U.S. District Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander granted the injunction last week, requiring all SSA DOGE team members and affiliates to “disgorge and delete all unlawfully obtained, disclosed, or accessed data” and non-anonymized information housed by the SSA, according to the order. Social Security officials had previously given DOGE officials access to personal and private data, including Social Security numbers, medical records, mental health records, hospitalization records, drivers’ license numbers, bank and credit card information, tax information, income history, work history, birth and marriage certificates and home and work addresses, according to Judge Hollander.
“Defendants, with so called experts on the DOGE Team, never identified or articulated even a single reason for which the DOGE Team needs unlimited access to SSA’s entire record systems, thereby exposing personal, confidential, sensitive, and private information that millions of Americans entrusted to their government,” she stated.
Meanwhile, in February, the previous Acting Commissioner of the SSA Michelle King resigned after refusing to hand over the sensitive data.
The restraining order was originally requested by a coalition of unions and retirees from national legal organization Democracy Forward, who accused the DOGE agency of violating the Privacy Act along with other federal laws.
Elon Musk in past weeks has repeatedly questioned the validity of the SSA’s system, calling it “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time,” while claiming the agency had paid out benefits to millions of deceased individuals. The SSA issued a report last week pushing back on these claims, adding that “less than one-third of 1% are erroneously reported deaths that need to be corrected.”
In her order, Judge Hollander called out Musk and DOGE affiliates for running an unwarranted shakeup at the agency.
“The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion,” Judge Hollander said. “It has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle is actually in the haystack.”
SSA defendants were required to file a status report documenting their compliance with the restraining order by or on March 24. According to the order, SSA and DOGE officials may have to file additional status reports in the future detailing their compliance actions on the order.
The restraining order was issued just days before Frank Bisignano sat in his on his first confirmation hearing as SSA commissioner on March 25. Bisignano, a former Fiserv and JP Morgan Chase & Co. executive, told CNBC in February that he would “100%” work with DOGE, calling himself a “fundamentally DOGE person.”
SEE ALSO:
Top Social Security Official Resigns in Wake of Clash with Musk’s DOGE
SSA Pushes Back on Claims of Widespread Death Record Fraud
Social Security Administration Cutting 7,000 Jobs in DOGE-Initiated Restructuring
Amanda Umpierrez is the Managing Editor of 401(k) Specialist magazine. She is a financial services reporter with over six years of experience and a passion for telling stories and reporting news. Amanda received her degree in journalism and government and politics at St. John’s University. She is originally from Queens, New York, but now resides in Denver, Colorado with her partner. In her free time, Amanda enjoys running, cooking, and watching the latest drama show.
