The Supreme Court on Friday cleared President Donald Trump’s administration to resume using an expanded federal database to verify the citizenship of registered voters, delivering a significant election-integrity victory weeks before the November midterms.
The divided court lifted a lower-court restriction that prevented federal officials from using the revamped system to answer verification requests from state and local election authorities. All three liberal justices dissented.
The unsigned order represents emergency relief rather than a final judgment on the program’s legality. The underlying lawsuit will continue moving through the courts.
In its order, the majority said the lower court’s restriction “prevents the Federal Government from using the program it believes is best suited to the task.” The administration argued that federal officials have an obligation to respond when election authorities request citizenship information.
The dispute concerns the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program, commonly called SAVE. The Department of Homeland Security traditionally used the system to confirm the citizenship or immigration status of people applying for government benefits.
Trump’s administration expanded SAVE to give election officials additional tools for reviewing voter registrations. Those changes included allowing bulk searches and permitting queries using Social Security numbers rather than relying primarily on immigration identification numbers.
Administration officials have promoted the changes as an important safeguard against noncitizens appearing on voter rolls. Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections.
Friday’s decision will not permit election officials to conduct widespread voter-roll removals immediately before the midterms. Federal law generally restricts systematic removals within 90 days of a federal election.
As a result, the expanded database may currently be used only for investigations involving individual voters. Election officials cannot use the ruling to conduct a sweeping purge of registrations before Election Day.
US District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan blocked the revamped program in June after voting-rights and privacy organizations filed a lawsuit. The challengers argued that SAVE relied on potentially inaccurate information and exposed Americans’ sensitive personal data without proper legal safeguards, per Trending Politics.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld that restriction in a 2-1 ruling on Sept. 5, prompting the administration to request emergency intervention from the Supreme Court.
The challengers warned that mistakes in the database could force lawful American citizens to prove their eligibility or risk losing their voter registrations. The administration countered that the lower courts were preventing federal officials from assisting states with legitimate eligibility checks.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson argued in dissent that potentially burdening or disenfranchising lawful voters outweighed any harm the government faced from being temporarily unable to use the expanded system.
The ruling gives Trump a major, though limited, victory in his broader effort to tighten election procedures. A separate administration proposal involving mail-in ballots was rejected by the Supreme Court earlier in September.
Legislation incorporating similar citizenship-verification changes has passed the Republican-controlled House but remains stalled in the Senate.
For now, state and local authorities may submit individualized citizenship inquiries through the expanded SAVE system while the legal fight over its broader use continues.
