Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander/ Wikimedia Commons
As previously reported, a federal judge on Thursday barred DOGE from accessing social security systems.
Earlier this week 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.
The judge sided with the plaintiffs and said DOGE is likely violating privacy laws with access to social security numbers and other personal information.
A media firestorm erupted on Friday after Acting Social Security commissioner Leland Dudek told The Washington Post in an interview that he will likely file an affidavit asking Judge Hollander to clarify her ruling, calling the language “ambiguous,” “overly broad,” and “weirdly written.”
“Everything in this agency is PII,” Dudek told The Post. “Unless I get clarification, I’ll just start to shut it down. I don’t have much of a choice here.”
Dudek’s comments prompted Judge Hollander to issue a letter clarifying her language.
“The Court is aware of several news reports claiming that Acting Social Security Commissioner Dudek believes that virtually all employees of SSA fall within the scope of the Order, including his “IT Staff” and his “anti-fraud team.” And, according to the news reports, Mr. Dudek apparently believes he is required to terminate their access to SSA’s IT systems, in order to comply with the Order,” Judge Hollander wrote in a letter on Friday.
The judge continued, “Such assertions about the scope of the Order are inaccurate. Employee of SSA who are not involved with the DOGE Team or in the work of the DOGE Team are not subject to the Order. A DOGE Affiliate is defined in the Order, inter alia, as a person working on or implementing the DOGE agenda. Moreover, any suggestion that the Order may require the delay or suspension of benefit payments is incorrect.”
Later Friday, Judge Hollander issued a second letter warning Dudek not to shut down all operations.
Dudek never threatened to close down the Social Security Administration. He was reacting to Judge Hollander’s TRO.
“It continues to come to my attention that Acting Commissioner Dudek persists in making threats about shutting down operations at the Social Security Administration, claiming that the TRO that I issued in this case on March 20, 2025 applies to almost all SSA employees,” the judge wrote. “As I stated in my letter to counsel of March 21, 2025, the assertion that the TRO applies to all SSA employees is patently false.”
JUST IN: Judge Hollander has issued a *second* letter today warning Social Security acting commissioner Dudek not to shut down all operations over her order barring DOGE’s access to sensitive systems. https://t.co/DDhF3MU3Jj pic.twitter.com/bbG6Szr2I3
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 22, 2025
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