Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Told You So, Social Security Edition - emptywheel

"Based on its review of records obtained during or after October 2025, SSA identified communications, use of data, and other actions by the then-SSA DOGE Team that were potentially outside of SSA policy and/or noncompliant with the District Court's March 20, 2025, temporary restraining order ("TRO") (ECF 48). SSA notified the undersigned Department of Justice ("DOJ") attorneys on December 10, 2025, of its concerns."

"Something else led SSA to review DOGE access in October. And while Debra Katz, the attorney for Social Security whistleblower Chuck Borges, claimed vindication from the disclosure, it's not entirely clear whether Borges' disclosures precipitated the discovery. He first came forward in August, two months before SSA appears to have started doing a real assessment of access violations, though he filed a retaliation supplement to his complaint in November."

"Last week's declaration revealed the following: On March 3, 2025, a DOGE boy sent an email with an encrypted file to DHS, copying Steven Davis (who then was the operational leader of DOGE) and a DOGE boy formally assigned to Department of Labor. SSA has not been able to break the encryption and so don't know which 1,000 people the emailed records exposed."

SSA first learned about the agreement during a review unrelated to the case in November 2025. Review of records obtained during or after October 2025 identified communications, data use, and other actions by the then-SSA DOGE Team potentially outside SSA policy and possibly noncompliant with the District Court's March 20, 2025 temporary restraining order. SSA notified DOJ attorneys on December 10, 2025. Whistleblower Chuck Borges first came forward in August and filed a retaliation supplement in November; his disclosures overlapped the revelations and described later actions beyond March. On March 3, 2025, a DOGE member emailed an encrypted file to DHS copying Steven Davis and a DOGE member assigned to the Department of Labor, and SSA has been unable to break the encryption to determine which 1,000 people were exposed.

Read at emptywheel