Supreme Court upholds Trump administration's plan to expand a voter database for midterms, allowing states to use it for citizenship checks. The decision lifts a lower court ruling that blocked the expansion of the SAVE system, which was created to track noncitizens.
The database, originally designed to track immigrants, is now being expanded to include Social Security and other information. The Supreme Court's decision allows states to conduct mass searches of the database ahead of the midterms, though federal law limits changes to voter rolls in the weeks leading up to elections.
The decision comes despite concerns about the accuracy of the database and the potential for disenfranchising naturalized citizens. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, arguing that the lower court correctly found that altering the system would violate federal law and risk disenfranchising voters.
The ruling is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to enhance voter verification, though other parts of the March 2025 order have been blocked by lower courts. The SAVE system remains a controversial tool in the ongoing debate over election integrity.