A federal appeals court says it won't lift restrictions on the access that Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has to Social Security systems containing personal data on millions of Americans.
The full panel of judges on the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals voted 9-6 to keep the ruling from US District Judge Ellen Hollander in place while DOGE pushes forward with an appeal. The appellate decision was released Wednesday.
Earlier this month Hollander issued a preliminary injunction in the case, which was brought by a group of labour unions and retirees who allege DOGE's recent actions violate privacy laws and present massive information security risks.
Hollander said DOGE staffers could access data that has been redacted or stripped of anything personally identifiable, but only if they undergo training and background checks. She also said DOGE and its staffers must purge any of the non-anonymised Social Security data they have already obtained, and barred them from making a