The U.S. Supreme Court granted an emergency request from the government, allowing the Trump administration to use an expanded federal database for citizenship information as part of an effort encouraging states to purge voter rolls, according to reporting from NBC News. The justices divided 6-3 along ideological lines with conservatives in the majority.
Supreme Court Permits Trump Administration Database Use
The decision puts on hold a previous ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan in Washington, D.C., who had blocked the mass verification system in June after finding it haphazardly assembled, reliant on unreliable data, and in violation of privacy rights. Lower courts, including a 2-1 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, had previously declined to halt the district judge’s injunction. The Supreme Court’s three liberal-leaning justices publicly dissented from the decision.
Background on the SAVE Program
The database in question is the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program, known as SAVE. Congress originally established SAVE in 1986 so government agencies could quickly check immigration status when individuals applied for benefits like Social Security. Following an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in March 2025 requiring agencies to ensure only U.S. citizens vote, the Department of Homeland Security redesigned the database last year.
The expansion added information from the Social Security Administration, allowing bulk searches and queries utilizing Social Security numbers. In court papers, Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that the lower court’s injunction threatened upcoming election integrity by blocking the federal government from responding to state requests for voter citizenship verification. Conversely, the Supreme Court majority noted that a 1996 law permits DHS to obtain citizenship and immigration details from other federal agencies and imposes an obligation to respond to states.
State Implementation and Errors
Following the expansion, several Republican-led states compared their voter lists to the database. Texas ran its full voter rolls of more than 18 million registrations through the system last year, though only three people have been charged with voting illegally as a noncitizen. Across multiple jurisdictions, at least 67 million registrations have been scanned through the program.
Local officials and reporting from outlets including ProPublica and The Texas Tribune identified mistakes after running rolls through the newly expanded system, with many flagged registrants being newly naturalized citizens. In Travis County, Texas, officials investigated 97 voters flagged by SAVE and found that between 10% and 21% of them were actually U.S. citizens.
Reactions and Legal Arguments
Advocacy groups and legal challengers, including the League of Women Voters and Democracy Forward, argued that the expanded database violates laws such as the Social Security Act and the Privacy Act, risking the disenfranchisement of eligible voters. Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, stated that the system puts Americans’ privacy and freedom to vote at risk.
Supporters of the administration welcomed the ruling. Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project, stated that the decision makes it easier for states to obtain federal citizenship data to maintain voter lists. DHS has defended its investigations as conducted diligently and professionally, while critics maintain that noncitizen voting is extremely rare and that states already possess established processes to conduct mandatory voter list maintenance.