Unions petition court to prevent DOGE from obtaining Social Security information of millions of Americans
DOGE has gained entry to various government databases, including those at the Treasury and IRS.
TroibNews 
A coalition of labor unions is seeking an emergency federal court order to prevent Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing millions of Americans' sensitive Social Security data.
The request for emergency relief was submitted late Friday in a Maryland federal court by the legal services organization Democracy Forward against the Social Security Administration and its acting commissioner, Leland Dudek. The unions are asking the court to stop DOGE from accessing the extensive amounts of personal information maintained by the agency.
Included in the court filing is an affidavit from Tiffany Flick, a former senior official at the agency, who states that career civil servants are attempting to safeguard the data from DOGE. "A disregard for our careful privacy systems and processes now threatens the security the data SSA houses about millions of Americans," Flick wrote in court documents.
Karianne Jones, an attorney representing the unions and a retiree group involved in the lawsuit, noted that the exact nature of the access DOGE could have to taxpayer personal data remains unclear. However, she expressed concern over the apparent scope and lack of information regarding DOGE's intentions, indicating that the potential impact could be "huge."
"Essentially what you have is DOGE just swooping in and bullying their way into access to millions of Americans private data. They cannot explain why they want this data. They can't really tell you what data they want. They just want everything. They want the source code, and they want to do it without any restrictions," she said.
The Social Security Administration did not respond promptly to a request for comment regarding the lawsuit, which was first lodged last month.
DOGE's initiatives during the initial phases of the Trump administration have sparked nearly two dozen legal challenges. Judges have expressed concerns in various cases about DOGE's broad cost-cutting measures, which have been executed with minimal public disclosure about its staffing and operations. Nevertheless, judges have not consistently deemed the risks significant enough to prohibit DOGE from accessing government systems.
Proposed across-the-board cuts at the Social Security Administration have raised alarms about the potential consequences for benefits affecting tens of millions of recipients.
Possible agency changes include laying off over 10% of its workforce and shutting down numerous offices nationwide, part of the Trump administration's strategy to reduce the size of the federal workforce.
DOGE has also accessed other governmental databases, such as those at the Treasury and IRS. The Trump administration has generally asserted that these efforts aim to eliminate what it perceives as waste and fraud within the government.
On Friday, a federal judge in Washington declined to prevent DOGE employees from accessing Treasury systems that contain sensitive personal data for millions. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly acknowledged privacy concerns related to that work. However, DOGE’s actions remain restricted by a separate court order in New York.
Moreover, a February arrangement between the Office of Personnel Management and the IRS specifies that a DOGE staff member, Gavin Kliger, is permitted access to IRS systems but not to personal taxpayer information.
Debra A Smith contributed to this report for TROIB News
The request for emergency relief was submitted late Friday in a Maryland federal court by the legal services organization Democracy Forward against the Social Security Administration and its acting commissioner, Leland Dudek. The unions are asking the court to stop DOGE from accessing the extensive amounts of personal information maintained by the agency.
Included in the court filing is an affidavit from Tiffany Flick, a former senior official at the agency, who states that career civil servants are attempting to safeguard the data from DOGE. "A disregard for our careful privacy systems and processes now threatens the security the data SSA houses about millions of Americans," Flick wrote in court documents.
Karianne Jones, an attorney representing the unions and a retiree group involved in the lawsuit, noted that the exact nature of the access DOGE could have to taxpayer personal data remains unclear. However, she expressed concern over the apparent scope and lack of information regarding DOGE's intentions, indicating that the potential impact could be "huge."
"Essentially what you have is DOGE just swooping in and bullying their way into access to millions of Americans private data. They cannot explain why they want this data. They can't really tell you what data they want. They just want everything. They want the source code, and they want to do it without any restrictions," she said.
The Social Security Administration did not respond promptly to a request for comment regarding the lawsuit, which was first lodged last month.
DOGE's initiatives during the initial phases of the Trump administration have sparked nearly two dozen legal challenges. Judges have expressed concerns in various cases about DOGE's broad cost-cutting measures, which have been executed with minimal public disclosure about its staffing and operations. Nevertheless, judges have not consistently deemed the risks significant enough to prohibit DOGE from accessing government systems.
Proposed across-the-board cuts at the Social Security Administration have raised alarms about the potential consequences for benefits affecting tens of millions of recipients.
Possible agency changes include laying off over 10% of its workforce and shutting down numerous offices nationwide, part of the Trump administration's strategy to reduce the size of the federal workforce.
DOGE has also accessed other governmental databases, such as those at the Treasury and IRS. The Trump administration has generally asserted that these efforts aim to eliminate what it perceives as waste and fraud within the government.
On Friday, a federal judge in Washington declined to prevent DOGE employees from accessing Treasury systems that contain sensitive personal data for millions. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly acknowledged privacy concerns related to that work. However, DOGE’s actions remain restricted by a separate court order in New York.
Moreover, a February arrangement between the Office of Personnel Management and the IRS specifies that a DOGE staff member, Gavin Kliger, is permitted access to IRS systems but not to personal taxpayer information.
Debra A Smith contributed to this report for TROIB News
