{"slug":"scotus-revives-save-voter-citizenship-database","title":"Supreme Court Revives DHS 'SAVE' Voter-Citizenship Database Ruled Unlawful, Weeks Before the Midterms (September 2026)","date":"2026-09-25","lastUpdated":"2026-09-30","description":"On September 25, 2026, the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration's emergency request in DHS v. League of Women Voters (No. 26A308), staying a district court ruling that had barred the Department of Homeland Security from using its overhauled SAVE system to check the citizenship of registered voters. In a June 22, 2026 decision, U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan had held that DHS's merger of immigration records with Social Security Administration data violated the Social Security Act, the Privacy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, writing that the government 'knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote.' NPR, citing the Solicitor General's filing, reported that since May 2025 the modified SAVE has checked more than 65 million voters in 26 states and flagged 28,635 as potential noncitizens; in Texas, about one in five of the 2,724 voters initially flagged were later confirmed as citizens. Justices Jackson, Sotomayor and Kagan dissented.","summary":"DHS turned SAVE, a benefits-eligibility tool, into a mass voter-citizenship checker by pulling in Social Security numbers and other federal records. A federal judge found that unlawful and found that eligible citizens had their registrations cancelled after being wrongly flagged. Weeks before the midterms, and inside the 90-day pre-election period, the Supreme Court let DHS resume using the system while the appeal continues, over a dissent warning that the harm of disenfranchising 'even a few lawful voters' outweighs any harm to the government.","category":"civil-rights","severity":"severe","ongoing":true,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/09/supreme-court-clears-way-for-trump-administration-to-use-modified-voter-verification-database/","title":"Supreme Court clears way for Trump administration to use modified voter verification database","publisher":"SCOTUSblog"},{"url":"https://www.opb.org/article/2026/09/25/the-supreme-court-revives-the-controversial-save-data-system/","title":"The Supreme Court revives a controversial data system for citizenship checks","publisher":"NPR (via OPB)"},{"url":"https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/supreme-court-revives-dhs-use-of-flawed-immigration-database-for-voter-purges/","title":"Supreme Court revives DHS use of flawed immigration database for voter purges","publisher":"Democracy Docket"},{"url":"https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/sooknanan-voter-citizenship-database-illegal-save-tool-opinion.pdf","title":"League of Women Voters v. DHS, No. 25-3501 (SLS), Memorandum Opinion","publisher":"U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (via Courthouse News)"},{"url":"https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/in-blow-to-trump-federal-judge-blocks-dhs-from-using-citizenship-database-to-purge-voters/","title":"In blow to Trump, federal judge blocks DHS from using citizenship database to purge voters","publisher":"Democracy Docket"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["voting rights","SAVE","voter purges","citizenship verification","Social Security data","Privacy Act","Supreme Court","2026 midterms"],"relatedEntries":["voter-suppression-election-interference","doge-social-security-voter-fraud","doge-unauthorized-data-access","eac-commissioners-purge-july2026"],"timeline":[{"date":"2025-05-01","title":"Modified SAVE begins voter checks","summary":"DHS's overhauled SAVE system, now incorporating Social Security data, begins verifying the citizenship of registered voters for states (NPR dates the start to May 2025)."},{"date":"2026-06-22","title":"District court holds SAVE overhaul unlawful","summary":"Judge Sparkle Sooknanan rules for the League of Women Voters coalition, finding violations of the Social Security Act, Privacy Act and APA, and vacating the modified system."},{"date":"2026-09-04","title":"D.C. Circuit denies stay","summary":"A divided appellate panel refuses to pause the ruling pending appeal but expedites the case."},{"date":"2026-09-25","title":"Supreme Court grants stay","summary":"In DHS v. League of Women Voters (26A308), the Court allows DHS to resume using the modified SAVE system. Justices Jackson, Sotomayor and Kagan dissent."}],"location":{"name":"Washington, DC","lat":38.9072,"lng":-77.0369},"custom":{"era":"second-term","posture":"active-litigation","warCrimeClassification":"enabling","internationalLaw":[{"statute":"International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights","article":"Article 25","provision":"Right of every citizen to vote without unreasonable restrictions"},{"statute":"International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights","article":"Article 17","provision":"Protection against arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy"},{"statute":"International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights","article":"Article 26","provision":"Equal protection; internal DHS memos warned that naturalized citizens were at particular risk of erroneous cancellation"}],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"Registered voters, particularly naturalized citizens, wrongly flagged as potential noncitizens; Americans whose Social Security data was merged into the system","perpetrators":"Department of Homeland Security / USCIS; Trump administration (Solicitor General D. John Sauer sought the stay)","keyPoints":["Judge Sparkle Sooknanan (D.D.C.) ruled on June 22, 2026 that DHS's modified SAVE system violated the Social Security Act, the Privacy Act and the APA, vacated it, and ordered it returned to its pre-modification state.","She found that 'some of the Plaintiffs' members have been wrongfully identified as non-citizens by SAVE, resulting in the cancellation of their voter registrations.'","NPR, citing the Solicitor General's filing: since May 2025 the modified SAVE checked more than 65 million voters across 26 states and flagged 28,635 as potential noncitizens. In Texas, roughly 20% of 2,724 initially flagged voters were later confirmed as citizens and reinstated.","On September 4 a divided D.C. Circuit panel refused to pause the ruling. On September 25 the Supreme Court granted the stay in an unsigned order, reasoning that 1996 immigration law authorizes DHS to request citizenship information from other agencies.","Justice Jackson, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Kagan, dissented: 'the harm caused by burdening or disenfranchising even a few lawful voters outweighs the nonexistent harm that the Government experiences.'"],"legalBasis":"Privacy Act of 1974; Social Security Act (SSN confidentiality provisions); Administrative Procedure Act; National Voter Registration Act; ICCPR Articles 17, 25, 26","postureNote":"The district court's June 22, 2026 judgment that the modified SAVE system is unlawful remains on appeal. The Supreme Court's September 25 order is an interim stay, not a final ruling on the merits. The D.C. Circuit had denied a stay on September 4 and expedited the appeal."}}