Elon Musk’s DOGE momentum is fading, Trump ‘calls’ the Supreme Court to help and restore DOGE’s power
Texas, California, New York, Florida, and every other state across the U.S. felt the effects of federal policy shifts almost immediately after Donald Trump returned to the White House earlier this year. Led by Elon Musk, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) made a bold entrance, slashing billions in federal spending within weeks. However, that momentum now appears to be fading, as Musk’s private companies face ongoing financial difficulties and the wealthiest man in the world plans to focus more on his own businesses.
Late this week, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to restore vital access to Social Security data for its cost-cutting task force. Solicitor General D. John Sauer submitted an emergency appeal on Friday aiming to reverse a Maryland federal judge’s injunction prohibiting DOGE team members from accessing the Social Security Administration’s system of records.
U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander’s 145-page ruling in April, which sided with two labor unions and Democracy Forward in their fight against the Department of Government Efficiency office’s data-access strategy, sparked the conflict. Hollander decided that, without the usual agency rule-making procedure, disclosing the personal files of millions of Americans probably violated the Privacy Act.
“For some 90 years, SSA has been guided by the foundational principle of an expectation of privacy with respect to its records,” Hollander wrote, warning that the proposed access would “expose a wide fissure in the foundation.”
Hollander let DOGE personnel see anonymized or censored data despite her concerns about raw data if they finished particular training and background checks. When the government asked the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for relief, judges refused to suspend that part of the injunction. That disappointment drove the lawsuit to the highest court in the country.
In its Supreme Court filing, the government argues that the injunction handicaps federal employees who are supposed to root out waste, fraud and abuse. “The government cannot eliminate waste and fraud if district courts bar the very agency personnel with expertise and the designated mission of curtailing such waste and fraud from performing their jobs,” Sauer told the justices.
He also argued that the unions and advocacy group lack standing to file the lawsuit and that the district judge overstepped its authority by so broadly denying access to the data—allegations the administration believes endanger pressing federal priorities.
Though the government has requested comparable emergency relief in more than a dozen other instances related to President Trump’s second-term agenda, the legal battle is the first test of DOGE’s authority before the Supreme Court. Task force was given responsibility for simplifying government operations under his inauguration morning. Though the White House has since made clear that Amy Gleason—formerly of the U.S. Digital Service—is DOGE’s official administrator, President Trump openly appointed Elon Musk to head the initiative.
Since its inception, DOGE teams have been integrated into more than a dozen agencies, including Treasury, Education, and the Office of Personnel Management, often triggering new court battles over Privacy Act compliance. Musk’s participation has come under fire as well; critics under the Appointments Clause of the Constitution claim the billionaire’s direct involvement crosses acceptable bounds of power.
The Supreme Court will rule on the executive branch’s ability to proceed with modernization initiatives or whether long-standing privacy protections should remain in effect even in the sake of efficiency when it considers the emergency petition.
