Protesting Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency’s access to millions of Americans’ confidential Social Security data, a coalition of labor unions has petitioned a federal court for an emergency injunction.
At the end of Friday, the legal services organization Democracy Forward moved for emergency relief against the Social Security Administration and its acting commissioner, Leland Dudek, in a federal court in Maryland. According to the unions, DOGE should not be able to access the extensive personal data stored by the government.
An affidavit signed by Tiffany Flick, a former senior officer at the agency, asserts that career civil officials are attempting to safeguard the data from DOGE. This statement is included in the complaint. “The security of the data that SSA houses about millions of Americans is now threatened by a disregard for our careful privacy systems and processes,” Flick stated in court filings.
The lawsuit’s union and retiree backers’ lawyer, Karianne Jones, stated that the extent to which DOGE may have access to taxpayer information is unclear. According to her, the possible impact might be “huge” due to the apparent extent and the absence of information on DOGE’s search criteria.
The essence of the situation is that DOGE has simply invaded and coerced its way into accessing the private data of millions of Americans. They have no idea what they’re doing by requesting this info. To be honest, they aren’t clear about the information they seek. Everything is on their want list. She clarified that their desire for unfettered access to the source code was applauded.
A request for comment on the complaint, which was initially filed last month, was sent to the Social Security Administration on Saturday, but they did not immediately answer.
Almost twenty lawsuits have been filed against DOGE because of their activity in the early days of the Trump administration. Several judges have voiced concerns over DOGE’s massive cost-cutting initiatives, which have been carried out with minimal disclosure of information on the agency’s personnel and activities. However, the courts have not unanimously decided that the dangers posed by DOGE are severe enough to prohibit its use on government networks.
Concerns over the potential impact on benefits for tens of millions of recipients have arisen in response to agency-wide budget cuts.
Over ten percent of the agency’s employees would lose their jobs and dozens of locations throughout the nation might close if certain proposals are approved. All of this is a component of the Trump administration’s plan to reduce the number of government employees.
Among the other government databases that DOGE has accessed are those of the IRS and the Treasury. In a broad sense, the Trump administration has said that the goal is to eradicate government waste and fraud.
The access of DOGE staff to Treasury systems storing sensitive personal data for millions of people was not blocked on Friday by a federal judge in Washington. Concerns over privacy were acknowledged by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly regarding that work. One New York court injunction still limits DOGE.
Furthermore, an agreement that was reached in February between the Office of Personnel Management and the IRS specifies that an employee of DOGE named Gavin Kliger would be granted access to IRS systems, but not taxpayer personal information.