The Supreme Court handed the Trump Administration two small victories on Friday.
On Friday, the US Supreme Court (6-3) allowed DOGE to access sensitive Social Security data.
In a separate order, the high court (6-3) also said DOGE does not have to hand over documents including communications between workers and various agencies in response to a FOIA lawsuit.
Liberal Justices Kagan, Sotomayor and Jackson dissented and would have denied the applications.
A federal judge previously barred DOGE from accessing social security systems.
US District Judge Ellen Hollander, an Obama appointee, said DOGE’s workers are on a “fishing expedition.”
“The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion. It has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle is actually in the haystack,” Judge Hollander wrote.
Far-left organizations like AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers and other plaintiffs sued the Social Security Administration, Elon Musk, DOGE and other Trump advisors.
On April 17, Judge Hollander issued a preliminary injunction extending the ban on Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the personal records of millions of Americans stored by the Social Security Administration (SSA).
In April, the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 9-6 to keep the block on DOGE’s access to social security data.
The court’s entire slate of judges (en banc) weighed in on Wednesday: Chief Judge Diaz (Obama), Judge King (Clinton), Judge Gregory (Clinton), Judge Wynn (Obama), Judge Thacker (Obama), Judge Harris (Obama), Judge Heytens (Biden), Judge Benjamin (Biden), and Judge Berner (Biden) voted to deny the motion to stay.
Judge Wilkinson (Reagan), Judge Niemeyer (George H.W. Bush), Judge Agee (George W. Bush), Judge Richardson (Trump), Judge Quattlebaum (Trump), and Judge Rushing (Trump) voted to grant the motion to stay.
The Supreme Court on Friday granted emergency relief and allowed DOGE to do its job.
