Trump Administration Seeks Supreme Court Intervention on Voter Database

Why it matters locally: If the Supreme Court allows the use of the updated voter database, it could affect how West Virginia election officials verify voter citizenship and potentially lead to changes in voter registration processes within the state.

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WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has petitioned the Supreme Court to allow the use of a Department of Homeland Security database for voter citizenship verification. The request, filed Tuesday, asks the justices to suspend a federal judge's ruling that currently prevents the government from using the updated Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued to the court that the order by U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan "makes it harder to detect ineligible voters, undermining the integrity of federal elections and public confidence in the results of those elections." This marks the second instance in three days where the Trump administration has sought Supreme Court intervention regarding election procedures. On Sunday, it requested that the justices block a federal judge's ruling from Boston concerning U.S. Postal Service regulations for mail-in ballots. President Donald Trump issued an executive order on March 25. This order directed the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to develop systems enabling state and local governments to verify the citizenship and immigration status of voters. Subsequently, these agencies revised the SAVE system. The overhaul included adding records of U.S.-born citizens, incorporating access to Social Security numbers, and allowing bulk searches instead of individual inquiries. The League of Women Voters and the Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington challenging these modifications to the SAVE system. On June 22, Judge Sooknanan ruled that the revised system violated federal privacy laws, the Social Security Act, and federal administrative agency laws. She prohibited the government from using the modified system. Judge Sooknanan stated in her ruling that "the federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote." She further noted that "states have partnered with the federal government to access the database and are actively removing United States citizens from voter rolls based on inaccurate information." A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected the government's request to pause Sooknanan's order during the appeal process. However, the appeals court indicated that the case should proceed on an expedited schedule. Solicitor General Sauer then appealed to the Supreme Court. He characterized Sooknanan's ruling as an "indefensible order that threatens the integrity of upcoming elections by vacating the federal government’s authority to internally use Social Security data when fulfilling its duty to respond to requests by States to verify the citizenship of individuals for voting and other purposes." Sauer contended that Sooknanan lacked the authority to issue her order because the challengers did not possess the legal right to sue, known as standing. He argued the federal government did not cause any injury the challengers or their members might experience. "SAVE," he stated, "does not disqualify any voter; instead, it merely notifies the States whether the federal government can confirm citizenship." He suggested that any injury would originate from the states themselves. Sauer also asserted that the government's "policy is consistent with all applicable federal statutes." He emphasized that federal law "requir[es] DHS to provide citizenship verification," thereby granting the agency the power "to take steps—such as checking Social Security records—that are reasonably necessary to perform that duty." He added that federal law bars "courts from relying on other statutes, such as the Privacy Act and the Social Security Act, to block citizenship-verification responses based on the sharing of Social Security information." Finally, Sauer informed the justices that the government would experience "irreparable" harm if Sooknanan's order remained in effect. He said the government would be "required to return to an older, more cumbersome, and less reliable version of the" SAVE system, and any "reversal of the district court’s judgment ‘would come too late for the 2026 midterms.’" Chief Justice John Roberts, who holds initial responsibility for emergency appeals originating from Washington, D.C., instructed the challengers to submit their response by 4 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, September 15.