The Supreme Court on Friday handed the Trump administration a victory in its election integrity push, allowing federal officials to work with states using an expanded citizenship-verification database.
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The 6-3 ruling permits state officials to use the modified Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program, known as SAVE, to verify the citizenship of registered voters. The Trump administration expanded the system to incorporate Social Security records and allow officials to check voters in larger batches.
Attorney General Todd Blanche hailed the decision as a win for election security.
“Huge victory for election integrity!” Blanche said. “The modified SAVE system allows state and local officials to conduct citizenship verification of registered voters to keep aliens from voting.”
The ruling’s immediate effect on the Nov. 3 midterm elections could be limited. States are already within a 90-day period during which federal law prohibits systematic removals of ineligible voters from registration rolls.
The Department of Homeland Security expanded SAVE in May 2025 after President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for additional election safeguards. The League of Women Voters and other liberal election groups challenged the expansion, and a federal district judge blocked the modified program in June. An appeals court subsequently declined to pause that ruling.
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Friday’s Supreme Court order puts the lower court ruling on hold while the case proceeds. The justices did not issue a final decision on the legality of the expanded SAVE program.
“The District Court’s order thus inhibits the Federal Government’s efforts to assist state and local agencies in the proper administration of the midterm elections,” the court’s unsigned opinion said.
The court’s six conservative justices backed the decision. Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented, arguing the expansion could harm the public.
Jason Snead, executive director of the conservative Honest Elections Project, called the order “a major win for election integrity.”
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“The Supreme Court got it right,” Snead said.
