Supreme Court Sides With Trump’s DOGE, Blocks FOIA Demand and Grants Social Security Access

The U.S. Supreme Court issued two rulings Friday that favored the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a federal entity established under President Trump to reduce waste and modernize operations. 

The rulings granted the agency access to Social Security records while blocking efforts to compel disclosure of internal documents.

The decisions came in response to separate legal challenges—one over DOGE’s request for Social Security Administration (SSA) data and the other over whether DOGE must comply with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted by a watchdog group.

In the first case, the justices determined that DOGE staff assigned to the SSA must be granted access to internal records in order to fulfill their responsibilities. 

The Court stated that DOGE personnel must be able to obtain records from the SSA to carry out their assigned tasks, the Washington Examiner reports.

A second decision, related to a FOIA lawsuit, reversed a district court order that would have required DOGE to release communications and recommendations. 

The case was returned to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for further review.

DOGE, positioned as an advisory body under Trump, has faced resistance from labor organizations and transparency advocates over its role and oversight limitations. 

Two labor organizations, representing public employees and educators, brought legal action arguing that DOGE’s access to information held by the SSA may breach federal privacy and procedural laws.

The Justice Department (DOJ) argued that DOGE functions as an advisory panel within the Executive Office of the President and therefore is not subject to FOIA, which typically applies to federal agencies. 

According to the DOJ, DOGE operates as an advisory panel under the president’s office and is not bound by public disclosure laws like FOIA.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the group that filed the FOIA case, maintained that DOGE holds “substantial independent authority” and should be classified as a federal agency subject to public records requirements. 

The district court initially agreed and ordered disclosure, but the Supreme Court ultimately halted that decision.

Chief Justice John Roberts previously stayed the lower court’s ruling in May, a move that preceded Friday’s formal reversal.

The Court found that internal executive discussions, including DOGE’s recommendations and how they were handled, fall outside the scope of judicial review. 

“The portions of the district court’s April 15 discovery order that require the government to disclose the content of intra–executive branch USDS recommendations and whether those recommendations were followed are not appropriately tailored,” the Court ruled, per the Washington Examiner. 

“Separation of powers concerns counsel judicial deference and restraint in the context of discovery regarding internal executive branch communications.”

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued a dissenting opinion in the case involving DOGE’s request for Social Security data.

She criticized the Court’s emergency handling of the matter, writing, “In essence, the ‘urgency’ underlying the government’s stay application is the mere fact that it cannot be bothered to wait for the litigation process to play out before proceeding as it wishes.”

DOGE’s creation under Trump was part of a broader effort to cut inefficiencies and centralize oversight of federal spending and administrative function.

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