Trump demands that Supreme Court let Elon Musk’s DOGE access all Social Security data

President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have full access to the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) data.

The Justice Department told the justices to block a previous ruling from Judge Ellen Hollander that stopped DOGE from entering the SSA’s internal systems. The department argued that the judge’s decision went beyond her authority and interfered with the Executive Branch.

They said the order prevents the team tasked with fixing government data systems from doing their jobs.

“The district court is forcing the Executive Branch to stop employees charged with modernizing government information systems from accessing the data in those systems because, in the court’s judgment, those employees do not ‘need’ such access,” they wrote.

According to Reuters, the court fight started after two unions and an advocacy group filed a lawsuit to stop Musk’s DOGE from pulling sensitive data from the SSA. Hollander, who was appointed by Barack Obama, agreed with them.

She said DOGE gave no real reason why it needed to see almost every record in the system. Her ruling from April 17 called the request “unprecedented” and said it broke the 90-year tradition of privacy inside the SSA. She also said the attempt revealed a deep problem in the agency’s foundation.

Republicans fight Trump’s plan from inside Congress

On April 30, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond backed Hollander in a divided decision. The court refused to lift her order, which meant DOGE stayed locked out of the SSA. The Supreme Court gave the people challenging Trump’s move until May 12 to respond. While this plays out in court, Trump is also getting hit from the other side—Congress. Even Republicans aren’t backing Musk’s federal cuts.

Musk’s DOGE says it already cut $160 billion from the government budget. During the campaign, Musk claimed he’d slash $2 trillion.

But now that Trump is back in the White House, lawmakers from his own party are quietly refusing to back any of the cuts as actual law. The Washington Post reported that some Republicans privately admitted that writing even a piece of the DOGE cuts into law would be too much.

The administration has almost no way to lock in the cuts without Congress. Republicans have started avoiding town halls after Medicare and Social Security cuts sparked public outrage. 

Some lawmakers have switched to phone-only events. The National Republican Congressional Committee told them to skip public meetings altogether.

Trump’s team offered a smaller plan: send $9.3 billion of the DOGE cuts to Congress for approval. That includes wiping out the U.S. Agency for International Development, folding it into the State Department, and cutting public broadcasting money. Still, Congress hasn’t moved.

Robert Shea, a Republican and former official at the White House budget office, told the Post, “None of the activities of the DOGE have heretofore had any impact on the budget, the debt or the deficit. Until Congress acts, those savings don’t really become real.” He warned that the White House must now choose between using the actual funding passed by Congress or breaking budget law. That could cause a constitutional crisis.

Every side is now pushing back against Musk and Trump’s DOGE. The courts have frozen access to data. Congress won’t touch the cuts. And even with $160 billion claimed in reductions, nothing is legally locked in.

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