A federal judge in Baltimore issued a preliminary judicial order Thorsday restricting the access of the Government’s Department of Social Security data.
The United States District Judge, Ellen Hollander, designated by Obama, said that employees affiliated with Doge must purge any of the non -anonymized social security data that they have received since January. They are also prohibited from making any change in the computer code or the software used by the Social Security Administration, they must eliminate any software or code they may have already had, and are prohibited from dividing any code to others to others.
The judicial order allows Doge employees to access editable or stripped data of anything identifiable personally, if they undergo training and background verifications.
“The objective of addressing fraud, waste, poor management and swelling is commendable, and one that the American public presumes and supports,” Hollander wrote in the ruling issued Thursday night. “In fact, taxpayers have every right to expect their government to make sure that money earned with effort is not wasted.”
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The protesters meet outside the Palace of Justice of the United States District Edward A. Garmatz in Baltimore, on Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
But that is not the problem, Dutchman said: the problem is how Doge, led by billionaire Elon Musk, wants to do the job.
“For about 90 years, the SSA has been guided by the fundamental principle of a privacy expectation with respect to its records. This case exposes a wide fissure at the Foundation,” the judge wrote.
The case was presented by a group of unions and retirees who claim that recent actions of Doge violate the privacy laws and present massive risks of information security.
Duration A federal court hearing on Tuesday in Baltimore, Hollander repeatedly asked government lawyers why Dege needs “access apparently without restrictions” to the confidential personal information of the agency to discover the social security fraud.
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“What are we doing that you need all that information?” Hollander said, questioning whether most data could be anonymized.
The Trump administration lawyers said that changing the process would slow down their efforts.
“While anonymity is possible, it is extremely burdensome,” said the lawyer of the justice department Bradley Humphreys to the court. He argued that Doge Access does not deviate significantly from normal practices within the agency, where employees and auditors can routinely search in their databases.
The Social Security Administration Badge. (Fox News)
But the lawyers of the plaintiffs called him “a change of sea” in terms of how the agency handles confidential information.
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of the Group of Legal Services, Democracy Forward, who is behind the lawsuit, said the ruling has brought “significant relief for the millions of people who depend on the Social Security administration to safeguard their majority.”
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Hollander made it clear that his request was not applied to SSA workers who are not affiliated with Doge, so they can still access any data used in the course of ordinary work. But Doge employees who want access to anonymous data must first submit to the typical training and background verifications of other employees of the Social Security Administration, he said.
Billionaire Elon Musk leads the government’s efficiency department. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP through Getty Images)
Hollander, 75, is the last judge to consider a case related to Dux. Many of his consultations on Tuesday focused on whether the Social Security case differs significantly from another case of Maryland that challenges Doge’s access to three other agencies: the Department of Education, the Treasury Department and the Tessonnel Administration Office. In that case, a Court of Appeals recently blocked a preliminary injury and cleared the way for Dog to access people’s private data once again.
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The court order of Hollander could also be appealed to the 4th Court of Appeals of the United States Circuit, which was placed on the side of the Trump administration in other cases, including the allowing of Doge Access to the United States Agency for International Development and allow the executive diversity of Fords.
Associated Press contributed to this report.