The Trump administration secured a legal victory Friday after the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated a lower court order that had blocked the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Social Security Administration data.
The ruling overturned a preliminary injunction issued in April 2025 by U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander, which had prevented DOGE personnel from accessing certain sensitive records held by the Social Security Administration, Red State reported.
The administration had challenged that decision, first seeking a stay from the Fourth Circuit and later filing an emergency application with the Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme Court granted the stay in June, allowing access to proceed while the appeal moved forward.
In its latest decision, the Fourth Circuit, sitting en banc, vacated the injunction and sent the case back to the district court for further proceedings. The underlying legal dispute remains unresolved.
The case was brought by three organizations representing millions of Americans, who argued that allowing DOGE access to personally identifiable information was unlawful. The plaintiffs did not claim that the data had been misused or improperly disclosed, but instead argued that the transfer of non-anonymized information itself posed a legal violation.
In reviewing the injunction, the appellate court focused on the standard four-factor test required for such emergency relief. Those factors include the likelihood of success on the merits, the risk of irreparable harm, the balance of equities and the public interest.
The majority concluded that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate irreparable harm, a key requirement for maintaining a preliminary injunction. The court reasoned that any potential harm could be addressed later through damages under the Privacy Act or, if warranted, through permanent injunctive relief.
As a result, the court determined that emergency relief was not justified at this stage of the case.
The decision also addressed a prior Fourth Circuit ruling involving DOGE, in a separate case known as American Federation of Teachers v. Bessent. In Friday’s opinion, the court stepped back from aspects of its earlier analysis and reaffirmed the traditional four-factor framework for evaluating injunctions.
The ruling was not unanimous, with multiple judges issuing concurring and dissenting opinions. The divisions reflected disagreements over legal questions, including standing, the threshold for irreparable harm, and the impact of the Supreme Court’s earlier intervention.
Despite those differences, the outcome represents a procedural win for the Trump administration, which has pushed to expand access to federal data as part of broader government efficiency efforts.
The case now returns to the district court, where litigation over the merits will continue. Further rulings are expected as the legal challenge proceeds.
The federal workforce has declined by more than 352,000 employees since President Donald Trump took office last year, according to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics compiled through Federal Reserve Economic Data.
The reductions include firings, resignations and retirements, bringing the total number of federal civilian employees to levels not seen in decades. The workforce is now smaller than at any point since 1966, The Washington Times reported.
As of February 2026, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded approximately 2,683,000 federal employees, excluding active-duty military personnel. That figure represents a decline of about 355,000 workers, or roughly 11.8%, from the peak in October 2024.
Preliminary estimates for March suggest the number could fall further to around 2,665,000 employees. In January alone, federal employment dropped by 34,000 as workers who accepted deferred resignation offers in 2025 were removed from payrolls.
Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican, praised the reduction in a post on X. “I voted for this. Did you?” Lee wrote.
Historically, the federal civilian workforce has remained relatively stable for decades. It rose from about 2.2 million to roughly 2.7 million during the late 1950s and early 1960s and remained near that level for more than 60 years.