Power Grab/Fire anyone who can stop him
The Supreme Court let DOGE into Social Security records in a 6–3 emergency order
The unsigned order lifted lower-court limits and sent the case back for a ruling on the merits while DOGE’s access resumed.
What happened
On June 6, 2025, the Supreme Court granted the administration’s emergency application 6–3 in an unsigned order, allowing DOGE access to Social Security Administration data. The data includes Social Security numbers, medical and mental-health records and family-court information. Unions and an advocacy group had sued under the Privacy Act of 1974.
Acting Commissioner Michelle King had refused DOGE access and resigned. Her replacement, Leland Dudek, granted what challengers called “unfettered access.” In April 2025, Judge Ellen Hollander blocked the access and ordered DOGE to delete data it had copied. The Fourth Circuit refused to stay her order.
Justice Jackson, joined by Justice Sotomayor, dissented, writing that the Court was creating “grave privacy risks for millions of Americans.” She wrote that the government’s only urgency was that “it cannot be bothered to wait for the litigation process to play out.”
Who benefited
DOGE and the White House obtained the most complete personal database in the federal government without a ruling on whether that was legal. Elon Musk, who ran DOGE until late May 2025, had made access to agency data the center of his fraud claims about Social Security.
Who wanted something
Musk and the DOGE team argued they could not “detect systemic fraud” without full records. The Solicitor General framed the lower-court limits as interference with executive management. The order also served the administration’s broader project of linking agency databases.
Who lost out
Roughly 70 million beneficiaries and everyone with a Social Security number had their data opened to a team of political appointees without Privacy Act process. Career SSA officials who had refused were overridden. The lower courts’ interim protections were set aside before any merits decision.
Why it matters
The emergency docket let the administration take possession of the nation’s most sensitive civilian records first and litigate legality later. Once data has been copied it cannot be un-accessed, so the interim order decided the practical outcome.