The Supreme Court on Friday temporarily granted the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), once led by Elon Musk, full access to data held by the Social Security Administration, including Social Security numbers, medical and mental health records, and family court information.
In an unsigned order, the Court sided with a request from the Trump administration, overturning lower court rulings that had restricted the DOGE team’s access to the sensitive information, NPR reported.
The case was remanded to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond for a decision on the merits.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of the DOGE team, with the conservative supermajority backing the decision to grant temporary access to Social Security records. The Court’s three liberal justices dissented, saying they would have blocked the DOGE team’s access while the case continues to move through the appeals process.
Friday’s case began on day one of Trump’s second term, when he tasked DOGE with “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”
