A Maryland federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction barring Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from obtaining sensitive individual information stored within the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) computer systems. The decision is part of an ongoing legal dispute regarding so-called privacy abuse by DOGE employees.
US District Court Judge Ellen Hollander granted the injunction on Thursday in place of a temporary restraining order she had previously enacted. The former order, due to expire the same day, initially blocked DOGE members from accessing SSA information. The new injunction now puts those blocks into place for the length of the legal battle.
Judge Hollander declared that DOGE did not justify its effort to pursue what she characterized as “unprecedented, unfettered access” to the SSA’s data on the grounds of fraud detection. She insisted that plaintiffs, including two unions and the advocacy group Democracy Forward, are highly likely to succeed in establishing that DOGE employees broke privacy laws in their attempt to obtain this information.
Plaintiffs Warn of ‘Irreparable Harm’
For nearly 90 years, SSA has operated on the fundamental premise of an expectation of privacy regarding its files. This case reveals a broad crack in the foundation,” Hollander wrote in her 145-page decision.
The plaintiffs filed suits against the SSA, DOGE, Elon Musk, and other parties in February, seeking DOGE’s cessation of access to the agency’s extremely sensitive information systems. Unfettered access threatened, they said, the personal privacy of millions of Americans and also represented a federal law violation.
Judge Hollander agreed with the plaintiffs, stating that granting DOGE continued access might cause “irreparable harm” to Americans whose data is held in SSA databases.
Injunction Permits Limited Data Access
Even with the injunction, DOGE members can continue to access anonymized data—data that has all personal identifiers removed—if they undergo proper training and undergo background checks. But the ruling explicitly forbids DOGE staff and partners from accessing any data that has personal information.
The ruling is a victory for the plaintiffs in court and a blow for DOGE, an initiative championed by Musk with the charge of eliminating inefficiencies in the government. Judge Hollander put DOGE’s rationale for their broad request for data into doubt, implying that the agency’s reliance on shaky claims about pervasiveness was dubious.
Victory for Plaintiff Rights in Court Ruling
Skye Perryman, head of Democracy Forward, welcomed the decision as a landmark for Americans’ right to privacy.
This is a huge relief for the millions of individuals who rely on the Social Security Administration to protect their most intimate and sensitive information,” Perryman said in a statement.
Neither DOGE nor SSA officials responded to media requests for comment on the judge’s decision.
The case still raises awareness about the enormous stores of personal information stored in federal systems and the risks of further access without close regulation. Obama appointee Judge Hollander continues to be skeptical of DOGE’s arguments, challenging their necessity and approach at a recent Baltimore hearing.
