Supreme Court permits states to use SAVE database for citizenship checks
Supreme Court allows states to use the federal SAVE database for voter citizenship checks.
The U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to use the federal SAVE database to verify voter citizenship, staying lower-court orders that found the data inaccurate and likely to disenfranchise eligible voters. DHS originally built SAVE for immigrant benefit eligibility and citizenship tracking; the Trump administration repurposed it to screen voters and announced it ready in May 2025 without a system-of-records notice or public comment. The League of Women Voters and the Electronic Privacy Information Center argued that merging SAVE with Social Security records violated the Social Security Act, Privacy Act, and Administrative Procedure Act. Justices Jackson, Sotomayor, and Kagan dissented, and the administration has lost 23 federal cases seeking additional state voter data.
- The Supreme Court stayed rulings blocking state use of SAVE.
- DHS repurposed SAVE from immigration benefits to voter screening.
- Challengers cited the Privacy Act, Social Security Act, and APA.
- Jackson, Sotomayor, and Kagan dissented over privacy limits.
From the original article
3 min read at cyberscoop.com
Three justices wrote in a dissent that longstanding privacy laws protecting sensitive personal data held by the government should prevent the use of the database. The post Supreme Court permits states to use SAVE database for citizenship checks appeared first on CyberScoop.
By djohnson · cyberscoop.com
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