D.C. Circuit Blocks Administration's Plan to Use SAVE Database for Voter Citizenship Checks
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit voted 2-1 to stop the Trump administration from employing the SAVE system to verify voters' citizenship.
A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit rejected the administration's request to lift a lower-court injunction that barred the expansion of the Systematic Alien Verification Entitlements (SAVE) database for election purposes. The ruling means states cannot conduct bulk queries of Department of Homeland Security and Social Security records to confirm voter eligibility. The court split 2-1, with the majority finding the proposed use unlawful. The administration had sought to resume the program after it was halted by a previous decision.
Why it matters
The ruling limits a federal effort to use immigration data for voter eligibility, affecting election administration across states.
In this story
