The most-sued party in federal court: whoever runs Social Security
Published 2026-11-07 · By Pushbuild · Data: US Federal Civil Cases API – 10.9M District Court Cases Since 1988
Since 2021 the Social Security commissioner, under five names in the records, was the defendant in 68,322 federal cases, more than the United States itself. Most are appeals of denied disability claims.
| Defendant as recorded | Cases 2021-26 | Most common case type |
|---|---|---|
| COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURIT | 37,029 | Social Security: disability (DIWC/DIWW) |
| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA | 20,946 | Prisoner: vacate sentence |
| USA | 13,112 | Prisoner: vacate sentence |
| MAYORKAS ET AL | 10,420 | Other immigration |
| KIJAKAZI | 10,397 | Social Security: disability (DIWC/DIWW) |
| DOE | 8,927 | Copyright |
| JOHN DOE SUBSCRIBER ASSIGNED I | 8,010 | Copyright |
| NOEM ET AL | 7,118 | Habeas corpus: alien detainee |
| SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION | 6,973 | Social Security: SSI |
| BISIGNANO | 6,475 | Social Security: disability (DIWC/DIWW) |
| UNITED STATES OF AMERIC ET AL | 6,141 | Motor vehicle personal injury |
| SEALED | 5,461 | Qui tam False Claims Act |
| BONDI ET AL | 5,408 | Habeas corpus: alien detainee |
| GARLAND ET AL | 5,261 | Other immigration |
| JUUL LABS INC ET AL | 5,127 | Personal injury product liability |
| THE PARTNERSHIPS AND UN ET AL | 4,948 | Trademark |
| SYNGENTA CROP PROTECTIO ET AL | 4,793 | Personal injury product liability |
| EQUIFAX INFORMATION SER ET AL | 4,620 | Consumer credit |
| OMALLEY | 4,505 | Social Security: disability (DIWC/DIWW) |
| UBER TECHNOLOGIES INC ET AL | 4,390 | Personal injury product liability |
Caveats
Defendant names are truncated in the source and spelled several ways. Mass-tort cases in multidistrict litigation are excluded.
Sources
- Federal Judicial Center Integrated Database, read through the Pushbuild US Federal Civil Cases API on 2026-11-07
Data as of 2026-11-07. Every figure in this post is in the table above and the CSV below.
Download the data behind this post: b1-most-named-defendants-2021-26.csv
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Every number in this post comes from the US Federal Civil Cases API – 10.9M District Court Cases Since 1988. $0.0008 per row returned; every key gets $1 of free usage each month.
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