Before turning to the Supreme Court, the Trump administration went to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and sought an order to stay the lower-court ruling pending appeal. The appeals court voted 9–6 on April 30 to deny the government's motion.

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to clear the way for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to access Social Security systems containing personal data on millions of Americans.

A federal judge in Maryland found that scrutiny of the agency’s sensitive information systems by Elon Musk’s team appeared to violate federal privacy laws.