Musk, DOGE May Continue Making Cuts to Social Security Agency

Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency can continue their efforts to fire workers within the Social Security Administration, a federal judge ruled.

Judge Amit P. Mehta denied a motion for a preliminary injunction brought by five organizations representing different groups of people with disabilities and seven of the groups’ disabled constituents, according to a Tuesday memorandum opinion and order. The plaintiffs failed to show in the US District Court for the District of Columbia they faced an actual or imminent risk of harm from DOGE’s cuts or have suffered an injury.

“The court shares plaintiffs’ concerns about the effects of the challenged actions on the SSA’s capacity to deliver services, but the law requires more than what they have offered to award the extraordinary intervention of injunctive relief,” Mehta said.

Musk, DOGE, the SSA, and its acting commissioner Leland Dudek were sued on April 2 in response to Dudek’s February announcement that his agency would be eliminating at least 7,000 workers. The plaintiffs alleged in their complaint that this planned reduction in workforce stems from DOGE’s mission to eliminate waste in government spending and will only worsen the agency’s problem of “mounting backlogs and debilitating delays.”

The plaintiffs also took aim at SSA’s planned implementation of identity verification requirements in their complaint, saying it serves as an “unnecessary” restriction that makes it harder for people to get “the support they need.” The new requirements allegedly require SSA beneficiaries to verify their identity either online or in person at an SSA office.

The defendants hit back against the allegations in a response brief April 16, arguing that the suing individuals aren’t likely to succeed on the suit’s merits and that their individual claims lack merit.

“Even if plaintiffs could show a likelihood of success on the merits, they cannot meet the ‘high standard’ to show irreparable harm,” the defendants said.

The plaintiffs alleged they’ve been deprived of their rights to procedural due process and their right to petition the government under the Fifth Amendment, their complaint said. They asked the district court to declare the defendants’ actions illegal and unconstitutional. They also sought to enjoin the defendants from demolishing SSA’s Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity and Office of Transformation, terminating staff members, and implementing identity verification.

Brown Goldstein & Levy LLP and Justice in Aging represent the plaintiffs.

The case is American Ass’n of People with Disabilities v. Dudek, D.D.C., No. 1:25-cv-00977, 5/6/25.