The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration may use an updated version of an immigration database to verify voters’ citizenship.
Addressing a lower court’s order against the verification system, the 6-3 majority wrote that it “inhibits the Federal Government’s efforts to assist state and local agencies in the proper administration of the midterm elections.”
According to the Court, the “Federal Government has an obligation to respond to requests from state and local election officials seeking to verify the citizenship of voters.” It further stated that their order “prevents the Federal Government from using the program it believes is best suited to the task.”
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a dissent, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. They argued that connecting the voter database to the Social Security Administration’s data does not align with the “strict limits” laid out in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. “The harm caused by burdening or disenfranchising even a few lawful voters outweighs the nonexistent harm that the Government experiences when it is prevented from taking an action that it likely lacks the authority to take,” Jackson wrote. “This imbalance, along with the Government’s improbable merits arguments, should have compelled the Court to deny the stay.”
The Trump administration requested earlier this month that the Supreme Court allow the government to confirm the citizenship of voters. A lower court previously blocked the use of Social Security numbers and other information in the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database. The lower court ruling, issued by U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan found that updates to the tool violated privacy laws.
“The district court has issued 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,” the Trump admin’s filing stated.
Although the ruling is not final, the Supreme Court’s block on the lower court’s ruling allows the system to proceed for the upcoming midterm elections and moves the case back to lower courts.
