On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a June ruling that had barred the use of the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, thereby allowing President Donald Trump to deploy the tool for voter verification ahead of the November midterm elections.
SAVE, first created under the 1996 Immigration and Naturalization Act, was expanded by the Trump administration to scan 67 million voter registrations for non‑citizen eligibility. The database pulls data from the Social Security Administration and other federal agencies, and its use is voluntary for states. However, the system is known to misidentify up to 21 % of flagged voters as non‑citizens, as the Travis County, Texas, audit revealed.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, dissented, arguing that the database violates federal privacy laws and risks disenfranchising legitimate voters. In a statement, the plaintiffs’ counsel called the ruling “profoundly disappointing” and warned that “millions of Americans are at risk of unlawful targeting.”
Although the Supreme Court order lifts the ban, the 1996 law still requires that states seek DHS approval to use SAVE, and existing election statutes prohibit systematic purges within 90 days of an election. As a result, the immediate effect on the November midterms is likely modest, but the decision could embolden states to expand voter verification programs.
A federal judge’s June ruling remains in effect until the Supreme Court’s decision is fully implemented, and the administration has announced it will continue to use the database in “certain cases” to investigate alleged illegal voting. The White House has yet to issue a formal response, and the next major development will be a federal court hearing scheduled for early December.