SG Files Emergency Application in DOGE Case, CJ Roberts Immediately Calls for Response in 10 Days

The Chief moved quickly, but extended the review period out.

Today, May 2, the Solicitor General asked the Supreme Court for an emergency stay in Social Security Administration v. AFSCME. This case was brought to stop DOGE employees from accessing SSA data.

Immediately after the application was filed, the Chief Justice called for a response due on May 12.

Response to application (24A1063) requested by The Chief Justice, due by 4 p.m. (EDT) on May 12, 2025.

Here, Roberts continues his trend by calling for a response immediately. but Roberts apparently does not think this case is urgent. He did not grant even a temporary administrative stay, and granted the Respondents a leisurely ten days to respond.

Yesterday, I tracked the average length of time for shadow docket responses. This will be the second-longest period, only behind Justice Jackson's timeline in the Maine case. I wonder if Roberts too is signaling that the shadow docket should slow down.

Comments

[Please, Daivd, Seek Help]

Why is this case on an emergency posture that you think requires Roberts to have entered an administrative stay? Is something likely to change in the next, say, two weeks that has not happened in the last 236 years? It may very well be the case that special government employees should be permitted to access certain sensitive data in order for the government to do its job, but it is completely beyond me how adjudicating that question could be not just an emergency that requires the emergency docket, but also such an emergency that requires an emergency intervention before the intervention on the emergency docket?

[MollyGodiva]

To Trump every ruling against him justifies emergency adjudication.

[Krayt]

I have no problem trying to eviscerate delayed, multi-year blocking tactics. "Tie them up for years in courts." as a strategy end goal itself in power games.

[wvattorney13]

Agreed. A win in the lower courts for the challengers with no stay can run out the clock on Trump's term. Without "shadow docket" relief, the entire case is lost. That needs to be acknowledged before claiming that Trump is claiming an "emergency." Without it, he loses entirely.

[Glaucomatose]

To be clear, you are literally saying that any court ruling against Donald Trump is an emergency, because otherwise Donald Trump would have to wait for court proceedings to unfold.

When did this standard come to be, exactly?

[David Nieporent]

To Trump every ruling against him justifies emergency adjudication.

To Trump, sure. But Blackman pretends to be something other than an unpaid shill for Trump. What's Blackman's argument for why this is an emergency?

[MollyGodiva]

SSA data is protected by federal law. DOGE should lose on the merits. They are not allowed to access it.

[John F. Carr]

My understanding is the injunction applies to some SSA employees too.

[Life of Brian]

You'd probably puke if you knew the breadth and depth of rando governmental employees and contractors that have unbridled access to SSA data. Everyone getting the vapors over this particular team accessing it is 1000% pretextual.

[Sarcastr0]

If only we shared your personal and amazing access to these special facts.

[Life of Brian]

If only you shared a shred of my intellectual curiosity. You could also try actually reading the application for stay for a decent start.

[Sarcastr0]

Except in my job I work with PII. Hell, I train some folks on it as part of onboarding.
I talk to our privacy office all the time when some new twist on a data call comes up or the like.

So I know your bare assertion is full of shit.

[Life of Brian]

Except in my job I work with PII.

So you're one of the rando governmental employees I referred to. Way to accidentally make my point.

[Riva]

I think you mean that the decision of the lower court is without merit. The plaintiffs have no cognizable injury. They cannot prevent certain government employees charged with eliminating waste and fraud, that would be SSA DOGE members, access to agency data and the lower court has no power to micromanage the executive branch, a co-equal branch of government, in the execution of that task. The challenged order is absurd and unprecedented. Just so you know, it'll be overruled. Name your price and I'll take your bet on it.

[Doug Heffernan]

Who is (or what are) "SSA DOGE members"? Is it a DOGE member like big balls, or some SSA worker that joined DOGE?

[MollyGodiva]

Of course the judges can. Uses for SSA data is limited by federal law. If a judge finds DOGE is violating that law, they can order DOGE to stop and destroy the data the collected.

[David Nieporent]

Stop trying to make "co-equal" happen, and of course the courts do have power to micromanage the executive branch, to ensure it's complying with the law.

Remember that the president has essentially no powers in our constitutional system that haven't been granted to him by Congress.

[Jerry B.]

The states have access to IRS data to verify info on state tax returns. They also have access to secure tax refunds owed for things like child support. SSA, of course gets tax data from IRS,