Politics

Judge Blocks DOGE’s Unlimited Access To Social Security Data—Compares Attempts To Find Fraud To ‘Hitting A Fly With A Sledgehammer’

Published on: March 20, 2025 at 8:13 PM ET

Ellen Hollander, a US District Judge, blocked the DOGE from accessing sensitive Social Security Data. She also compared its attempts to find fraud to "hitting a fly with a sledgehammer."

Arvind Rao
Written By Arvind Rao
News Writer
Judge Ellen Hollander and Elon Musk.
Judge Ellen Hollander and Elon Musk (Source: Wikimedia Commons/United States District Court for the District of Maryland & Wikimedia Commons/Gage Skidmore)

US District Judge Ellen L Hollander blocked the Department of Government Efficiency’s unlimited access to sensitive Social Security Administration data, claiming that the DOGE’s attempts to find fraud at the program were “tantamount to hitting a fly with a sledgehammer.”

Hollander, in her 137-page ruling, mentioned that the DOGE team “engaged in a fishing expedition” at the Social Security Administration and was “in search of a fraud epidemic.” She opined that the Department of Government Efficiency was searching for a needle in a haystack “without any concrete knowledge” of it being there in the first place.

Ellen Hollander also lashed out at the Donald Trump Administration for not orchestrating a “more tailored, measured, (and) titrated approach” and stated how it repeated “its incantation of a need to modernize the system and uncover fraud.”

Hollander also revealed that it seemed like the DOGE shared no “privacy concern for the millions of Americans” whose records were made available to its affiliates, divulging that it was done so “without their consent.”

“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,” Ellen Hollander stated.

She added, “The government has not even attempted to explain why a more tailored, measured, titrated approach is not suitable to the task. Instead, the government simply repeats its incantation of a need to modernize the system and uncover fraud. Its method of doing so is tantamount to hitting a fly with a sledgehammer.”

“The defense does not appear to share a privacy concern for the millions of Americans whose SSA records were made available to the DOGE affiliates, without their consent,” Hollander said.

American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees President Lee Saunders called Ellen Hollander’s ruling a “major win for working people and retirees across the country.” Saunders, in his statement, called the DOGE team “unqualified lackeys” who presented “a grave danger to Social Security.”

He also alleged the Department of Government Efficiency of having accessed the “data of millions of Americans” illegally.

Lee Saunders’ statement read, “The court saw that Elon Musk and his unqualified lackeys present a grave danger to Social Security and have illegally accessed the data of millions of Americans. “

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