The U.S. Supreme Court today handed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) a major win ahead of the midterm elections. It issued an emergency stay that will allow the Trump administration to restore an expanded version of DHS's Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system for states that wish to use it to check voters' citizenship status ahead of the midterms.
The ruling was 6-3, with the liberal justices dissenting.
#BREAKING: Supreme Court, over liberal dissents, lets DHS overhaul immigration database for midtermshttps://t.co/xrGdSWSKki
— The Hill (@thehill) September 25, 2026
The Supreme Court cleared the way Friday for the Trump administration to implement its overhauled immigration database, which it says is aimed at combatting voter fraud, in time for November’s elections over the dissent of the liberal justices.
The overhaul faced opposition from Democrats and some voting groups, and a judge had blocked it for violating federal privacy law. The Supreme Court’s emergency ruling lifts that block, finding the challengers’ claims are likely to fail.
The majority wrote that “the Federal Government has an obligation to respond to requests from state and local election officials seeking to verify the citizenship of voters.”
“The order below prevents the Federal Government from using the program it believes is best suited to the task,” the court wrote.
SAVE has existed since 1986 as a tool for agencies to verify immigration status for benefits. In March of last year, President Trump issued an executive order directing DHS and the Social Security Administration to use better tools to verify voter citizenship.
In May 2025, DHS overhauled SAVE, adding Social Security Records and allowing bulk queries instead of singular lookups that required DHS alien numbers.
Voting rights and privacy groups like the League of Women Voters sued, and in June U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, a Biden appointee, vacated the overhaul, claiming it violated the Social Security Act, the Privacy Act, and the APA.
BREAKING: #SCOTUS allows Trump admin to make enhanced citizenship database known as SAVE available to states for use for voter verification in midterms, but too late for bulk matching. 3 liberal justices dissent. Doc: https://t.co/Tl360VuVmH
— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) September 25, 2026
The dissenting justices claimed the ruling will cause harm to lawful voters.
In a scathing dissent, Justice Jackson, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Kagan, wrote:
— Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) September 25, 2026
"The Court focuses only on the harms the Government will purportedly suffer absent a stay, disregarding the harms that the modified SAVE system has caused, and will likely continue to cause,… pic.twitter.com/8hWubo92Ok
The Republican National Lawyers Association said the ruling "restored common sense."
🚨🚨The Supreme Court restored common sense, allowing the states to access a longstanding federal resource to clean up their voter registration rolls.
— RNLA ⚖️ (@TheRepLawyer) September 25, 2026
They have had access to the SAVE database for years, until an activist court in DC followed the lead of leftist plaintiffs to… https://t.co/7eCaRTGn35
The ruling will allow states to secure our elections.
Huge win at the Supreme Court for President Trump and election integrity! The updated and improved SAVE database--better than ever to check to see if someone is in the country legally--can go into effect. This is a massive help in ensuring elections are safe and secure. pic.twitter.com/4rGVrw9e81
— Eric W. (@EWess92) September 25, 2026
This is a huge win for President Trump.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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