March 21, 2025 (UPI) — A federal judge has blocked a move by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency to gain access to sensitive Social Security records.
In a scathing ruling, Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander accused DOGE of engaging in a “fishing expedition” and wrote that the quasi-government agency, loosely overseen by SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, failed to provide any reason why it needed access to vast troves of personal and private Social Security information.
“The defense does not appear to share a privacy concern for the millions of Americans whose SSA records were made available to the DOGE affiliates, without their consent,” the judge wrote, CNBC reported.
The DOGE team, despite claiming that it has experts on the team, never provided a valid reason for needing unfettered access to sensitive Social Security information, “thereby exposing personal, confidential, sensitive and private information that millions of Americans entrusted to their government,” Hollander wrote.
According to a lawsuit, filed by union members, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the, DOGE was attempting to access to data that contained Social Security numbers, medical provider information, medical and mental health treatment records, employer and employee payment records, employee earnings, addresses, bank records and tax information.
The Trump administration has said it is taking an aggressive approach to downsizing the federal government and eliminating waste from the budget.
It has laid off tens of thousands of employees across various high-profile agencies and administrations, many of which have been engaged in finding a solution to the latest outbreak of the Avian flu, tax collection and conservation programs.
