American Federation of State, County and Municipal v. SSA

── American Federation of State, County and Municipal v. SSA ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Date: April 10, 2026 Category: General USCA4 Appeal: 25-1411 Doc: 75 Filed: 04/10/2026 Pg: 1 of 88 PUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 25-1411 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO; ALLIANCE FOR RETIRED AMERICANS; AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, Plaintiffs – Appellees, v. SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION; FRANK BISIGNANO, in his official capacity as purported Commissioner, Social Security Administration; MIKE RUSSO, in his official capacity as Chief Information Officer, Social Security Administration; ELON MUSK, in his official capacity as Senior Advisor to the President and de facto head of DOGE; UNITED STATES DOGE SERVICE; U.S. DOGE SERVICE TEMPORARY ORGANIZATION; AMY GLEASON, in her official capacity as DOGE Acting Administrator, Defendants – Appellants. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore. Ellen Lipton Hollander, Senior District Judge. (1:25-cv-00596-ELH) Argued: September 11, 2025 Decided: April 10, 2026 Before DIAZ, Chief Judge, and WILKINSON, NIEMEYER, KING, GREGORY, AGEE, WYNN, THACKER, HARRIS, RICHARDSON, QUATTLEBAUM, RUSHING, HEYTENS, BENJAMIN, and BERNER, Circuit Judges. Preliminary injunction vacated by published opinion. Judge Heytens announced the judgment of the court and delivered the opinion of the court with respect to Parts I, II, and III, which Chief Judge Diaz and Judges King, Gregory, Wynn, Thacker, Harris, Benjamin, and Berner joined, and an opinion with respect to Part IV, which Chief Judge Diaz and USCA4 Appeal: 25-1411 Doc: 75 Filed: 04/10/2026 Pg: 2 of 88 Judge Harris joined. Judge Wilkinson wrote an opinion concurring in the judgment, which Judges Niemeyer, Agee, and Rushing joined. Judge Richardson wrote an opinion concurring in the judgment, which Judges Wilkinson, Niemeyer, Agee, Quattlebaum, and Rushing joined. Judge Quattlebaum wrote an opinion concurring in the judgment, which Judges Richardson and Rushing joined. Judge King wrote an opinion concurring in part, dissenting in part, and dissenting from the judgment, which Judges Gregory, Wynn, Thacker, Benjamin, and Berner joined. Judge Wynn wrote an opinion, which Judges King, Thacker, Benjamin, and Berner joined. ARGUED: Jack E. Starcher, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellants. Alethea Anne Swift, DEMOCRACY FORWARD FOUNDATION, Washington, D.C., for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Yaakov M. Roth, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Eric D. McArthur, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Gerard Sinzdak, Simon Jerome, Jacob Christensen, Civil Division, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellants. Brian A. Sutherland, Anna-Rose Mathieson, COMPLEX APPELLATE LITIGATION GROUP LLP, San Francisco, California; Mark B. Samburg, Emma R. Leibowitz, Simon C. Brewer, Robin F. Thurston, DEMOCRACY FORWARD FOUNDATION, Washington, D.C., for Appellees. 2 USCA4 Appeal: 25-1411 Doc: 75 Filed: 04/10/2026 Pg: 3 of 88 TOBY HEYTENS, Circuit Judge: Three organizations sued to stop the Social Security Administration from giving U.S. DOGE Service personnel access to sensitive personal information about millions of Americans. The district court granted a preliminary injunction, which the Supreme Court stayed p