WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday permitted the Department of Government Efficiency, a key player in President Donald Trump’s drive to slash the federal workforce, broad access to personal information on millions of Americans in Social Security Administration data systems while a legal challenge plays out.
At the request of the Justice Department, the justices put on hold Maryland-based U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander’s order that had largely blocked DOGE’s access to “personally identifiable information” in data such as medical and financial records while litigation proceeds in a lower court. Hollander found that allowing DOGE unfettered access likely would violate a federal privacy law.
Two labor unions and an advocacy group sued to stop DOGE from accessing sensitive data at the Social Security Administration, or SSA, including Social Security numbers for Americans, bank account data, tax information, earnings history and immigration records.
The agency is a major provider of government benefits, sending checks each month to more than 70 million recipients including retirees and disabled Americans.