4th Circuit Maintains Block on DOGE Access to Social Security Recipients' Private Info

Nine judges, led by Judge Robert King, who authored the majority opinion, voted to deny the appellants' motion to stay, with six judges voting to grant it. Case 25-1411 was brought by the AFL-CIO and others over "DOGE and its affiliates' unfettered access to SSA systems of record containing personally identifiable information," which the plaintiffs allege violates the 1974 Privacy Act.

King sided with the union, and called the preliminary injunction opinion from the U.S. District Court for Maryland a "carefully crafted analysis," and attached it to his opinion in substitution for his own analysis. He also said "the evidence shows that DOGE’s unfettered access exceeded that allowed to all but the few most experienced and trusted SSA employees; that such access contravened SSA policy and practices of access limitations and separation of duties; and that DOGE affiliates were granted unfettered access without being properly hired by or detailed to SSA, without standard training, and without mandated background investigations."

The dissenting opinion, by Judge Julius Richardson, echoed his views from American Federation of Teachers (AFT) v. Bessent, which, he said, also applies here (see 2504080042). "As in AFT, standing is a daunting hurdle all on its own," said Richardson. "Facing the same multiplicative problem in this preliminary posture, these plaintiffs' odds of running the table and succeeding overall are low."

But King, in the majority opinion, said that not only should the stay not have been granted in Bessent, but this case has "vastly greater stakes," given the "millions upon millions of American citizens and noncitizen taxpayers" whose Social Security records are being unfairly accessed by DOGE, versus two million plaintiffs in Bessent.