Washington, D.C. – The fallout from bombshell revelations that confirm unlawful access and neglect of basic security measures by so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employees as they attempted to misuse access to Americans’ personal Social Security data continued today. In a new filing, Democracy Forward asked a court to compel discovery in its legal challenge to DOGE’s illegal incursion into Social Security systems on behalf of a coalition of unions and retiree advocates.
“The government’s misstatements, misrepresentations, and omissions to the court recently revealed in this case are enormously significant to clients’ case and to all Americans, who should be concerned about this administration’s misuse of their private data,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “Last spring, our clients sued the Social Security Administration amidst concerning reports that DOGE employees were accessing sensitive, personal SSA data. In its court filings last year, the government denied that DOGE was accessing SSA data. Yet, now we know that was not true. According to the government’s own belated admissions filed with the court recently, DOGE staff were accessing SSA data, exfiltrated the data to third parties, and a DOGE employee entered a ‘voter data agreement’ with an organization with the stated claim ‘to find evidence of voter fraud and to overturn election results in certain states.’ We are committed to getting to the bottom of the facts, protecting our client’s data privacy, and using all legal tools available to pursue accountability and protect our democracy.”
Today’s filing explicitly points out that SSA determined in its recent review that in March 2025, a political advocacy group contacted two members of SSA’s DOGE Team with a request to analyze state voter rolls that the advocacy group had acquired. In connection with these communications, one of the DOGE team members signed a “Voter Data Agreement,” in his capacity as an SSA employee, with the advocacy group. He sent the executed agreement to the advocacy group on March 24, 2025. This and other new findings led to today’s filing.
In the lawsuit filed by Democracy Forward in February 2025, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA) are seeking emergency relief after uncovering facts showing that DOGE operatives had gained access to private Social Security records. According to declarations filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, DOGE personnel entered SSA systems without appropriate legal authority, bypassed key data safeguards, and placed the private information of millions of Americans—including bank account numbers, health records, wage histories, and immigration status—at risk of exposure, theft, or abuse. The court took historic action soon after the case was filed, ordering DOGE to delete all unlawfully accessed data and temporarily blocking further access while the case was appealed to higher courts by the administration. The court order was later stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court via their shadow docket.
Then, on January 16, 2026, the government filed a “Notice of Corrections to the Record” in the case, disclosing a number of misstatements, omissions, and inaccuracies in information the government had previously provided to the court. The plaintiffs acted quickly to ensure the new information was added to the record of their case, and today sought to expand the discovery phase to include investigation into the newly revealed information.
Today’s motion for further discovery in AFSCME v. SSA is available here.
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Democracy Forward Foundation is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org.
