Supreme Court slammed for trampling on principle conservatives held dear
The Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has access to Social Security data. Bloomberg Opinion columnist Noah Feldman believes that is “one more substantial step in the direction of turning the U.S. into a country like China.”
The columnist claims in China, “the government has a 360-degree view of every aspect of its citizens’ lives.”
He called the court's 6-3 vote “particularly troubling” because the ruling means any information about you can be accessed by any part of the executive branch of government “indefinitely.”
Social Security data holds information like your job history, where you’ve lived, if you’ve ever been on Obamacare, and more. It also means more than just the White House can access this information.
Any agency that falls under the Executive Branch can see it, including the IRS, the Federal Election Commission and Health and Human Services. Feldman believes this would allow “any part of the government it wants to leverage for political purposes,” like the Department of Justice.
According to Feldman, “The executive order that created DOGE commanded all agencies to allow access to their data ‘consistent with applicable law.’”
He went on to say, “The applicable law in this case is the Privacy Act. It says that agencies can only disclose personal data in narrow circumstances, such as when agency employees ‘have a need for the record in the performance of their duties.’”
Noting the court did not expand on their ruling, Feldman was left to wonder, “Perhaps they think that DOGE has a need for the records, so the Privacy Act doesn’t apply.”
He went on to say, “Or, more radically, they may think that the Privacy Act is unconstitutional when applied to stop one part of the executive branch from seeing data collected by another part.”
“We are heading toward a government that knows everything about us,” Feldman said. “That used to be a concern for conservatives just as much as it was for liberals. Indeed, privacy should be a nonpartisan, bipartisan matter.”
“Someday, we may forget Musk’s foray into government. But its long-term effects may now include the rule of the all-seeing technologists.” He added, “The DOGE of Minerva is spreading its wings — even as the dawn is breaking.”
