Trump administration can use revamped voter screening tool for now, SCOTUS rules

The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Trump administration can proceed with its revamped voter screening tool, the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, for now. This decision supports the administration's efforts to implement new election rules ahead of the midterms. However, voting rights groups express concern that the administration's strategy could result in eligible voters being incorrectly disqualified.

The high court's majority stated that the federal government has a responsibility to address requests from state and local election officials seeking to verify voters' citizenship. They concluded that the lower court's injunction preventing the federal government from using the SAVE program, which the administration believes is the most suitable for the task, should be lifted.

The League of Women Voters deemed the decision "profoundly disappointing" and warned that it puts millions of Americans at risk of being unlawfully targeted by the administration's unreliable voter purge database, just weeks before the midterm elections. The D.C. district court had ruled that the expanded SAVE program violated multiple laws, and the voting rights and privacy advocates are determined to protect Americans' voting and privacy rights.

DHS General Counsel James Percival noted that the administration had to file an emergency petition in the Supreme Court to utilize government data to assist states in identifying and preventing noncitizens from illegally voting. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court dealt a setback to the administration by striking down the U.S. Postal Service's rule restructuring mail-in voting.