Court Dismisses Appeal of Order Blocking DOGE From Social Security 👉 Updatem News

The case, which involves unions and advocacy groups suing over DOGE’s access to Social Security databases, will proceed in district court.

An appeals court this week dismissed the Trump administration’s appeal of a lower court order that blocked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from obtaining Social Security data.

In an order on Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit dismissed the government’s appeal and argued that the government lacks the jurisdiction to bring the appeal. The case will now proceed in a district court.

“Having assessed the contention of the parties, this appeal is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction,” the brief order said.

A concurring opinion issued by an appeals court judge was included in the order, which reads: “In resolution of the pending motion for a preliminary injunction, the parties should explain in specific detail the basis for their respective arguments. Generalized explanations are unlikely to meet the burdens of proof required.

“Furthermore, I recommend the district court move expeditiously and without delay to render its opinion on the motion for preliminary injunction while also allowing the introduction of relevant evidence.”

On March 20, U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander in Maryland blocked DOGE from accessing Social Security databases that hold privately identifiable information of Americans and suggested DOGE may be looking for alleged fraud where none is present. Her order also required DOGE to delete any such data it may have obtained from the Social Security systems.

Plaintiffs who brought the suit include unions and advocacy groups such as the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA); and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Democracy Forward, which bills itself as a left-leaning legal group, helped bring the lawsuit.

“We are pleased the 4th Circuit agreed to let this important case continue in district court,” Richard Fiesta, head of the Alliance for Retired Americans, said in a statement released by Democracy Forward. “Every American retiree must be able to trust that the Social Security Administration will protect their most sensitive and personal data from unwarranted disclosure.”

In their complaint submitted last month, the plaintiffs filed their lawsuit against DOGE, the Social Security Administration, DOGE head Elon Musk, acting Social Security head Lee Dudek, and others. They argued that DOGE’s access to the systems could be in violation of federal laws around privacy and is tantamount to government overreach.

“The American public … faces Executive Branch overreach threatening the privacy of hundreds of millions of people’s personal data,” the lawsuit said. “In attempting to seize and maintain access to agency systems, including SSA’s (Social Security Administration), the Trump administration is violating the many protections that Congress and the Executive Branch have erected against exactly this type of data mining and misuse.”

The Trump administration appealed Hollander’s order on March 31 and argued that the plaintiffs could not show they suffered “irreparable harm from the SSA’s intra-agency disclosure of information, where employees who view that information are subject to the same confidentiality obligations that apply to other similarly situated agency employees, as other courts addressing similar claims have held.”

Soon after Hollander’s order, Dudek, the acting SSA commissioner, said in media interviews that he might have to “shut down the agency” because the order “applies to almost all SSA employees,” prompting a letter from the judge that stipulated her order only applies to DOGE employees working with his agency.

Dudek, in a statement clarifying his comments, responded on March 21, saying that the agency will not be shut down.

He said he is “not shutting down the agency” and that President Donald Trump “supports keeping Social Security offices open and getting the right check to the right person at the right time.” Employees at the agency will continue their work while the lawsuit plays out in the courts, he added.

Original News Source Link – Epoch Times

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