The U.S. Supreme Court Friday permitted billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, a key player in President Donald Trump's drive to slash the federal workforce, broad access to personal information on millions of Americans in Social Security Administration data systems while a legal challenge plays out.

At the request of the Justice Department, the justices put on hold Maryland-based U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander's order that had largely blocked DOGE's access to "personally identifiable information" in data such as medical and financial records while litigation proceeds in a lower court.

Hollander found that allowing DOGE unfettered access likely would violate a federal privacy law.