The U.S. Supreme Court voted 6‑3 on Friday to pause a lower‑court block on President Trump’s voter‑citizenship verification program.
Supreme Court Stays Voter Citizenship Verification Program
The high court granted the administration’s emergency request to temporarily halt a June decision by D.C. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, a Biden appointee, that had barred the use of a revised federal system to verify voter citizenship for election integrity purposes.
The modified system stems from a March executive order signed by President Trump, which directed the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to create tools that let state and local officials confirm the citizenship and immigration status of registered voters. Officials overhauled the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database to include U.S.-born citizen records, access Social Security numbers, and enable bulk searches rather than individual inquiries.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the administration’s initial request to stay Sooknanan’s ruling on September 4 by a 2‑1 vote. The government filed its emergency application with the Supreme Court days later.
In its per curiam opinion, the Court said the plaintiffs – the League of Women Voters and other groups – likely lack merit despite having standing. The majority cited the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), noting that Congress expressly authorized DHS to request and receive citizenship and immigration data from other agencies, including the Social Security Administration.
Justice Jackson dissented, calling the majority’s reading of IIRIRA a “back‑of‑the‑napkin assessment” that misread the statutory text. She argued that nothing in §1373 authorizes the altered SAVE system and that the government has not shown compliance with the Social Security Act’s confidentiality provision, making success on the merits unlikely.
The stay remains in effect pending the appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and any timely petition for a writ of certiorari. It ends if the Supreme Court denies the administration’s petition or if it agrees to hear the case and issues a judgment on the merits.
