U. S. District Judge Ellen Hollander ruled in favor of a group of organizations and seniors in Maryland who sued to stop Expand from accessing Social Security information. She issued a temporary restraining order on March 20 and, in a Thursday decision, decided DOGE didn’t adequately explain why it required “unprecedented, unrestricted access to almost the Social Security Administration’s full information techniques”.
” To be sure, rooting out possible fraud, spare, and mismanagement in the SSA is in the open interest”, Hollander said in a 148-page document. ” But, that does not mean that the state is flout the law to complete so”.
She ruled that SSA acting Commissioner Leland Dudek’s “explanations are vague, conflicting, and inadequate”.
The plaintiffs argued that SSA’s decision to give DOGE access to Social Security data showed it “has abandoned its commitment to maintaining the privacy of personal data” and unlawfully “opened its data systems to unauthorized personnel from]DOGE ] in violation of applicable laws and with disregard fo]r ] the privacy interest of the millions of Americans that SSA serves”.
Hollander said the SSA’s decision to turn over personally identifiable information to Expand represented a dangerous infraction of private and confidence.
” The DOGE Team seeks exposure to the Information that millions of Americans entrusted to SSA, and the SSA Accused have agreed to provide it”, she said. ” For some 90 times, SSA has been guided by the basic concept of an expectation of privacy with respect to its data. This situation exposes a vast fissure in the basis”.
Cultural SECURITY IS IN WORSE SHAPE THAN YOU THINK
As a result of the decision, Expand may remove any nonanonymous information, prevent accessing the Social Security script, and eliminate any program installed on SSA systems.
DOGE’s rapid motion in the beginning days of the Trump administration has slowed down as legal issues have piled up. Its approach to Social Security has come under particular scrutiny, especially from Democrats.
