US Supreme Court Restores Voter Citizenship Checks

The US Supreme Court has temporarily cleared the way for the Trump administration to continue using an expanded federal system to help state and local authorities verify the citizenship status of registered voters while legal challenges to the program continue.

In a decision issued on Friday, September 25, the justices granted the federal government’s request to stay a June 22 order from a US District Court for the District of Columbia that had set aside and vacated modifications to the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program.

The case, Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters, concerns changes introduced to SAVE in 2025 that broadened the federal records available for citizenship verification and enabled state and local authorities to conduct searches involving multiple people at once.

Under the modified system, SAVE can access additional information maintained by the Social Security Administration, including Social Security numbers. State and local agencies can submit identifying details through the SAVE portal, which then checks federal records and returns information on an individual’s citizenship status.

If the system cannot confirm an individual’s citizenship, the agency may ask that person to provide additional documentation establishing their citizenship before registering or remaining registered to vote.

The Supreme Court said the federal government had made a sufficient showing that it was likely to succeed in its appeal. The justices pointed to federal law authorising the Department of Homeland Security to request and receive citizenship and immigration information from other government agencies, including the Social Security Administration.

The Court also said the government could face significant harm if the lower court’s order remained in effect because it would prevent federal authorities from using the modified SAVE system to respond to citizenship-verification requests from state and local officials.

The stay will remain in place while the case proceeds before the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and, if the Supreme Court accepts a further appeal, until the Court issues its judgment.

The decision followed a series of legal challenges brought by the League of Women Voters and other organisations. The plaintiffs have argued that the expanded system violates federal laws governing Social Security records, privacy protections and administrative procedures.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, dissented. The dissent argued that the expanded system raises significant privacy concerns and could affect eligible voters whose citizenship information in federal records is inaccurate or outdated.

Attorney General Todd Blanche welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision, describing it on X as a victory for election integrity. He said the ruling would allow state and local officials to use the modified SAVE system to verify the citizenship of registered voters.

The ruling comes weeks before the November 3, 2026, US midterm elections and represents a significant development in the ongoing legal battle over the federal government’s role in voter citizenship verification.