Power Grab/Decide who gets to vote and who counts it
The Supreme Court lets states run voter rolls through DHS’s rebuilt SAVE system again, 6–3
— Supreme Court lets states run voter rolls through DHS's rebuilt SAVE system, 6-3.
The Court stayed a ruling that DHS violated the Privacy Act. The stay holds while the government appeals, and DHS says bulk screening will resume after the November 3 election.
What happened
On September 25, 2026, the Supreme Court stayed, 6–3, a June district-court ruling that DHS had violated the Privacy Act by rebuilding the SAVE system so states could bulk-check voter rolls for citizenship. The checks match on Social Security numbers. The stay holds while the government appeals.
DHS says 25 states, mostly Republican-led, have already run their rolls through SAVE, which ProPublica found misidentified citizens in at least five states. Justices Jackson, Sotomayor and Kagan dissented. Jackson cited Texas voters wrongly flagged and one whose registration was cancelled without notice.
The National Voter Registration Act’s 90-day freeze on systematic removals limits purges before November 3, and DHS general counsel James Percival said bulk screening will resume after the election. The main effect of the ruling therefore comes after the vote.
Who benefited
DHS and the Republican-led states that have used SAVE to flag voters now have the Supreme Court’s permission to continue. The administration gained a Supreme Court win on election administration this fall.
Who wanted something
The White House and DHS built the “noncitizen voting” campaign on SAVE’s output. DHS rebuilt the system in 2025 so a state could upload its entire voter roll and get back a list of people it could not confirm as citizens. Secretaries of state in Texas, Louisiana and elsewhere used it to send removal notices.
Who lost out
Citizens the system misidentifies, whom ProPublica found in at least five states, may be removed from the rolls after the election with no notice. The Privacy Act’s protection against the government repurposing data collected for one reason to another also lost.
Why it matters
A federal immigration database can now be run against every voter in the country, and the Court has said it may continue while the case is decided. This is the legal basis for the purge machinery after November. The midterm impact is limited by the 90-day freeze.
Sources Supreme Court of the United States (primary)VotebeatAssociated Press
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