The Supreme Court has approved the Trump administration's plan to expand a federal voter database, allowing the Department of Homeland Security to include Social Security and other information on every American. The decision overturns a lower court ruling that raised privacy and accuracy concerns.
The court's conservative majority allowed the administration to move forward with the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system, which was paused by a lower court over privacy and administrative law concerns. The database could be used to check voter eligibility ahead of the midterms.
The decision allows the federal government to use the database for checks ahead of the midterms, despite concerns about the accuracy of the data and the potential for disenfranchising naturalized citizens. The court noted that federal law prohibits mass alterations to voter rolls in the weeks leading up to the election.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and others dissented, arguing that altering the system would violate federal law and risk disenfranchising naturalized citizens, highlighting the ongoing legal and privacy concerns surrounding the database expansion.