A 6-3 Supreme Court order stayed a lower-court injunction that had blocked a Trump administration revision of the DHS Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, allowing states to use it to check citizenship on voter rolls while appeals proceed.
SCOTUS issued a temporary stay (6-3) of a D.C. district judge’s injunction, enabling use of the revised SAVE system pending appeal.
The majority indicated plaintiffs likely have standing but said their claims under the Social Security Act, the Privacy Act, and the APA likely lack merit because of IIRIRA provisions.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, arguing the majority misread statutory text and that the government is unlikely to succeed on the merits.
# What happened The U.S. Supreme Court temporarily lifted a lower-court block on a Trump administration change to the Department of Homeland Security's Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program. The court granted the government's emergency application in a 6-3 decision, with Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting.
# What the modified SAVE system does Social Security Administration to build systems states could use to verify voters' citizenship and immigration status. The revised SAVE reportedly now includes U.S.-born citizens' records, allows access to Social Security numbers, and permits bulk searches rather than only single-person inquiries.
# Legal path that led here
# How the Supreme Court explained its decision
# The dissenting view Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a dissent, calling the majority's statutory reading implausible and contending it misreads IIRIRA. She said nothing in §1373 authorizes the modified SAVE system or overrides confidentiality provisions of the Social Security Act and the Privacy Act. Jackson further argued the government is unlikely to succeed on the merits and that the majority erred in weighing other stay factors.
# Practical effect now The stay allows states to resume at least individualized voter-roll maintenance using the modified SAVE system ahead of the November elections. The stay will remain in effect while the case moves through the D.C. Circuit and during any timely petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court denies a cert petition or later decides the case on the merits, the stay will end accordingly.
# What to watch next
# Bottom line For now, the modified SAVE system can be used on a temporary basis for voter-roll maintenance while courts consider the legal challenges. The long-term resolution depends on the outcome of appeals and possible further Supreme Court review.
The Supreme Court on Friday lifted restrictions on a controversial federal voter database before November’s elections , granting President Donald Trump a temporary win in his aggressive campaign against noncitizen voting. The court’s three liberal-leaning justices publicly dissented from the decision. The emergency ord
The Supreme Court on Friday lifted restrictions on a controversial federal voter database before November’s elections , granting President Donald Trump a temporary win in his aggressive campaign against noncitizen voting. The court’s three liberal-leaning justices publicly dissented from the decision. The emergency ord
The Supreme Court on Friday lifted restrictions on a controversial federal voter database before November’s elections, granting President Donald Trump a temporary win in his aggressive campaign against noncitizen voting. The court’s three liberal-leaning justices publicly dissented from the decision. The emergency orde
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