Supreme Court Allows Use of Revised SAVE Database Amid Ongoing Legal Challenge

The Supreme Court issued a temporary stay that revives the Department of Homeland Security’s revised Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, allowing federal officials to use the tool to check the citizenship status of voters on state rolls. The decision overturns a June district-court order that had blocked the system after it was found to violate the Social Security Act, the Privacy Act and the Administrative Procedures Act.

SAVE, originally created to confirm immigration status for benefit eligibility, was overhauled last year to link with Social Security Administration records and to permit bulk queries. More than 65 million voter records from 26 states have been processed, with the system flagging roughly 28,600 individuals as potential non-citizens.

The Court’s majority held that the lower-court injunction prevented the federal government from conducting “individualized inquiries” permitted under federal law during the 90-day pre-election period, thereby hindering assistance to state and local election officials. The three liberal justices dissented; Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that the majority ignored potential harms, including the risk that newly naturalized citizens could lose their registration or be forced to prove citizenship.

Civil-rights groups, including the League of Women Voters and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, continue to challenge the program, arguing that Congress has not authorized a nationwide citizenship database and that the system’s error rate remains undisclosed. They contend that the database could jeopardize privacy and voting rights.

The ruling comes as the Trump administration intensifies efforts to identify non-citizens on voter rolls ahead of the midterm elections, citing an executive order that directs agencies to compile state-by-state lists of adult U.S. citizens. Federal officials have indicated that the project is still underway despite the order’s deadline having passed.

In Texas, a recent test of the system flagged 2,724 voters as potential non-citizens, leading local officials to give those individuals 30 days to verify their status before removal from the rolls. Critics say such actions risk disenfranchising eligible voters.

The Supreme Court’s order is limited to a temporary stay; the underlying litigation remains active, and the district court’s finding that the expanded SAVE program violated multiple statutes has not been overturned.