Social Security chief walks back shutdown threat after D.O.G.E ruling

Leland Dudek, the acting head of the Social Security Administration (SSA), backed off a threat to shut down the entire agency. His threat came right after a federal judge blocked staff tied to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E) from getting into millions of Americans’ private data. Then the judge told him to relax. So, he did.

Judge Ellen Hollander granted a request from union groups to stop what she called a “fishing expedition” by D.O.G.E staff. She said the agency had no good reason to search through people’s Social Security numbers, medical records, birth and marriage certificates, credit card details, bank info, and tax filings. Hollander said D.O.G.E didn’t offer even one valid reason to get full access to SSA systems. “They never identified or articulated even a single reason,” she said in court.

Dudek threatens to lock out all SSA workers

After that ruling, Dudek told Bloomberg News he was going to follow the judge’s order to the letter and kick everyone off the system. He said the court never made clear who counted as a D.O.G.E affiliate, so he’d assume it meant everybody. “My anti-fraud team would be D.O.G.E affiliates. My IT staff would be D.O.G.E affiliates,” he said. “As it stands, I will follow it exactly and terminate access by all SSA employees to our IT systems.”

He went further: “Really, I want to turn it off and let the courts figure out how they want to run a federal agency.” So that was the mood on Thursday. By Friday, everything flipped.

Judge Hollander came back with two letters calling Dudek’s interpretation “inaccurate.” She said her decision had “no bearing on ordinary operations at SSA.” She also clarified that only people directly working with D.O.G.E were affected. “A D.O.G.E Affiliate is defined in the Order as a person working on or implementing the D.O.G.E agenda,” she wrote.

That same day, Dudek issued a statement walking it all back. “The Court issued clarifying guidance about the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) related to D.O.G.E employees and D.O.G.E activities at the Social Security Administration (SSA). Therefore, I am not shutting down the agency,” he said. “SSA employees and their work will continue under the TRO.”

His threat came just weeks after former SSA Commissioner Michelle King stepped down. She quit after refusing to give D.O.G.E access to sensitive government data. That battle has been going on across the federal government.

Judges block D.O.G.E moves at other agencies

February saw a similar case. A federal judge stopped D.O.G.E staff from entering systems at the Treasury Department. That came after 19 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit, arguing D.O.G.E didn’t have the legal power to look through those records. Another D.O.G.E employee did manage to get partial access to anonymized taxpayer data at the IRS, but that was only after the agency and the staffer made a deal.

So far, D.O.G.E has been aggressive. They’ve tried to cut agency budgets and staff, fast. The Internal Revenue Service is facing a proposed 20% staff cut by May 15, according to a CNN report published on March 13. On top of that, D.O.G.E tried to shut down the United States Institute of Peace, a nonprofit funded by Congress.

The push has triggered backlash—especially around Tesla, where Elon Musk holds a big stake. The company is now the face of protests happening across the country.

Tesla Takedown grows louder every week

The “Tesla Takedown” movement is now in its fifth week. Nearly 90 Tesla showrooms across the country were hit with demonstrations Saturday. The message from the movement is simple: “Sell your Teslas” and “Dump your stock.” Musk’s control of D.O.G.E and his effort to tear down federal infrastructure has become the main reason behind the campaign.

The movement was started by Alex Winter, a filmmaker and actor, and Joan Donovan, a journalism professor at Boston University. Now, there are organizers in 28 states and Washington, D.C. Protesters keep showing up with signs like “Sell your swasticar” and “Honk if you hate Elon.”

Donovan told CNN, “There’s no walk of life that D.O.G.E doesn’t touch. That’s reflected in the diversity of people that come to these protests.”

The crowd is growing too. One of the protests took place in Rockville, Maryland on Saturday at 11 a.m. ET. It drew over 400 people, matching last week’s turnout but showing a big jump from when the movement began.

Karen Metchis, a 72-year-old who used to work at the Environmental Protection Agency, was there. She said this protest was much larger than the first one she went to. “It lets the public know that they’re not alone in their feelings,” Karen said. “Hopefully it builds a mass movement where it’s just not tenable for the Trump administration to continue doing what they’re doing.”

Right now, D.O.G.E has pissed off more than just bureaucrats and union lawyers. From judges to retirees, from IRS staff to Tesla owners, the war over data and power is hitting every corner. No one’s buying that this is about “efficiency” anymore.

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