The Supreme Court recently made a significant ruling that allows the DOGE team, led by Elon Musk, to access sensitive information from the Social Security Administration (SSA). This decision comes after the Trump administration requested the court to intervene, overturning previous restrictions set by lower courts.
On Friday, the Supreme Court voted 6 to 3 in favor of granting the DOGE team access to private data, which includes Social Security numbers, medical records, and family court information. The case now goes back to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals for further examination. The majority opinion was supported by the court’s conservative justices, while the three liberal justices expressed concern, arguing against the decision.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, along with Justice Sonia Sotomayor, criticized the majority’s ruling. They argued that allowing the DOGE team to access unredacted personal information before a thorough legal review poses significant privacy risks to millions of Americans. Jackson emphasized that the urgency claimed by the government does not justify bypassing the legal process.
This case began on the first day of Trump’s second term when he assigned the DOGE team to modernize federal technology. Initially, the acting Social Security Commissioner, Michelle King, blocked access to confidential records, leading to her resignation. Her successor, Leland Dudek, later granted the DOGE team what critics called "unfettered access" to SSA data.
Labor unions and advocacy groups have raised alarms, arguing that sharing personal information with unauthorized personnel violates the federal Fair Privacy Act, which requires consent before personal records can be shared. The government contends that access to these records is necessary for DOGE to perform its official duties, including modernizing technology and detecting fraud.
In April, a federal judge temporarily halted DOGE’s access to these records, ordering them to delete any previously acquired data. However, after undergoing background checks and training, some DOGE team members were allowed access again.
The Fourth Circuit had previously denied the Trump administration’s emergency request to lift the lower court’s restrictions, stating there was no urgent need for the DOGE team to access SSA records at that time. The Supreme Court’s recent decision, however, has changed the landscape, allowing the team to proceed with access to sensitive documents.
In a second ruling on the same day, the court also permitted DOGE to bypass certain Freedom of Information Act requirements, ruling they are not obligated to provide internal documents to a watchdog group ahead of ongoing legal proceedings.
This ruling raises serious questions about privacy and data security for Americans, as the implications of granting such access unfold. The future of how government agencies handle sensitive information is now under scrutiny, as the case moves forward in the courts.