On Thursday, March 20, 2025, signs of the U.S. Social Security Agency are visible outside its headquarters in Woodlawn, Maryland.
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A federal judge replied with the Social Security Bureau, who plays Commissioner Lee Dudek on Friday to “create a threat to shut down operations.”
In two letters a few hours apart, Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander argued that Dudek in various media interviews claimed that a temporary restraining order banning government efficiency agency affiliates from accessing certain data “applies to almost all SSA employees.” Hollander called the claim “inaccurate” and later called it “patently wrong.”
The court’s order “is explicitly applied only to SSA employees working on Doge Agenda,” Hollander wrote in a second letter. “It’s not related to the usual operations at SSA. In fact, when others at SSA are involved in Doge, I was misled by government lawyers, as Dudek argues.”
Dudek overturned his stance late Friday after the judge’s first letter.
In a written statement, Dudek pointed to the court’s “clear guidance.”
“So I haven’t closed the agency,” he said. “SSA employees and their work will continue under TRO.”
Controlling sticks are from access to personal data
On Thursday, Hollander temporarily blocked Doge from accessing personal data from the Social Security Agency. Dudek said in a subsequent interview that the ruling may require him to block access to employees at all agencies.
“All about this agency (personally identifiable information),” he told the Washington Post Friday. “Unless you get clarification, I’ll start shutting it down. There’s not much choice here.”
In her ruling, Hollander prohibited Social Security Agency employees, including Dudek, from granting the DOGE team access to information they can use to identify individuals. Doge is not a cabinet department, but its leader, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is considered a special civil servant.
Hollander also ordered Doge team members to remove all non-anonymized, personally identifiable information they have accessed “directly or indirectly” since January 20th.
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Following the ruling, Dudek said the court’s orders are so broad that they can be applied to Social Security employees, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
“My anti-fraud team will be Doge Affiliates. My IT staff will be Doge Affiliates,” Dudek told Bloomberg. “As of the moment, I will follow it exactly and end access to the IT system from all SSA employees.”
In a letter Friday afternoon, Hollander revealed that Social Security Agency employees who are not involved or cooperating with the DOGE team are not eligible for the order. Furthermore, “the proposal that an order may require delays or suspensions in paying benefits is incorrect,” Hollander writes.
In a follow-up letter sent Friday night, Hollander reiterated that the temporary restraining order only applies to agents’ employees working on “Doge Agenda.” The letter shows the individuals belonging to ten doges at the agency.
D-Mass. In a March 18 letter to Senator Elizabeth Warren, Dudek said the Social Security Agency has only 11 individuals affiliated with Doge.
“The Trump administration is threatening to close all social security just because it ruled that it would block judges from sticking fingers to taxpayers’ personal information,” Warren said in a written statement.
Dudek told various news outlets on Thursday and Friday that he would ask Hollander to clarify his orders soon.
In Hollander’s second Friday letter, she said, “I have instructed the government to contact Chambers immediately if there is a need for clarification.”
“When I was writing this letter, it was after 6pm and the government has not yet contacted the court,” she said.
“We have received the court order and we will comply,” a Social Security spokesman said in an email statement to CNBC on Friday. The agency did not respond directly to questions from CNBC about Dudek’s comments or made Dudek available for interviews.
Advocacy groups condemn Social Security leadership
The Social Security Administration sends millions of benefit checks per month to beneficiaries of retirement and disability programs through both Social Security and Supplementary Security Income.
Dudek’s comments, and the meaning that court cases could prevent timely delivery of benefits, prompted a wave of responses from advocacy groups.
“For almost 90 years, Hollander’s ruling was a lawsuit that involved a coalition of unions and retirees, including AFSCME, a trade union that opposed the Social Security Agency.
Dudek “proves once again that he’s in the way above his head,” Saunders said. He said under Dudek’s leadership, agents violated the safety of Americans and closed certain agency services and planned layoffs.
In another statement, Social Security Works President Nancy Altman said Dudeck’s leadership was “the darkest in the nearly 90-year history of Social Security.”
“He owns chaos and destruction,” Altman said.
In a memo sent to Social Security officials on Tuesday, obtained by NBC News, Dudek apologised for making mistakes and promised to learn from them.
Dudek took on the role of proxy committee in February when Michelle King, who was in operation at the time due to Doge’s privacy concerns, resigned. Dudek, a longtime Social Security employee, reportedly publicly revealed that he took administrative leave to work with Doge.
Trump has appointed Frank Bisignano, CEO of Payments Technology Company fiservserving as commissioner. A Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
Democrats, Republicans over Social Security
The tensions surrounding the change in the Social Security Agency have prompted a war of words between Congressional Democrats and Republicans.
Richard Neal, D-Mass, ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee. On March 19, issued a statement calling the Social Security Agency’s current situation “five farmers’ fires.” The new changes that could limit customer service and limit access to benefits are “backdoor benefits, not just a burden for seniors and people with disabilities in our country,” Neal writes.
Meanwhile, Jason Smith and R-Mo, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. said in a statement on March 12 that Democrats are “terrified to score political points,” but “the facts aren’t on their side.”
“President Trump did not touch on Social Security benefits during his first term,” Smith said. “House Republicans and President Trump continue to promise to protect and preserve the retirement benefits that older people expect.”
