A person holds a sign during a protest against cuts made by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to the Social Security Administration, in White Plains, New York, U.S., March 22, 2025.
Nathan Layne | Reuters
A federal judge has once again blocked Department of Government Efficiency staffers, operating inside the Social Security Administration, from accessing sensitive personal data of millions of Americans.
U.S. District Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander on Thursday granted a preliminary injunction to block the so-called DOGE from further accessing sensitive personal data stored by the agency. As a result, DOGE will have to comply with certain legal requirements when accessing SSA data. The order applies specifically to SSA employees who are working on the DOGE agenda.
The lawsuit was brought by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees; the AFL-CIO; American Federation of Teachers and Alliance for Retired Americans.
They are represented by national legal organization Democracy Forward.
The plaintiffs argue DOGE’s actions violate the Privacy Act, Social Security Act, Internal Revenue Code and Administrative Procedure Act.
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Defendants in the case include the Social Security Administration; the agency’s acting commissioner Leland Dudek; SSA chief information officer Michael Russo and/or his successor; Elon Musk, senior advisor to the president, and DOGE acting administrator Amy Gleason.
The order blocks the agency and its agents and employees from granting access to systems containing personally identifiable information including Social Security numbers, medical records, mental health records, employer and employee payment records, employee earnings, addresses, bank records, tax information and family court records.
DOGE and its affiliates must also disgorge and delete all non-anonymized personally identifiable information in their possession or control since Jan. 20, according to the order. They are also prohibited from installing any software on Social Security Administration systems and must remove any software installed since Jan. 20, the order states. In addition, the defendants are blocked from accessing, altering or disclosing the agency’s computer or software code.
“The court’s ruling sends a clear message: no one can bypass the law to raid government data systems for their own purposes,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, in a statement.
“We will continue working with our partners to ensure that DOGE’s overreach is permanently stopped and that people’s rights are protected,” Perryman said.
The injunction does allow DOGE staffers to access data that’s been redacted or stripped of anything personally identifiable, if they undergo training and background checks.
A temporary restraining order, which was issued by Hollander on March 20, is vacated and superseded with this order. The Trump administration had unsuccessfully appealed the temporary restraining order.
“We will appeal this decision and expect ultimate victory on the issue,” White House spokesperson Elizabeth Huston said in an email statement. “The American people gave President Trump a clear mandate to uproot waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government. The Trump Administration will continue to fight to fulfill the mandate.”
The Social Security Administration did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
