The US Supreme Court has granted a request from the Trump administration to use a federal database to identify potential non-citizens on the voter rolls. In a majority decision, the court ruled that the federal government has an obligation to respond to requests from state and local election officials seeking to verify the citizenship of voters. This decision is a victory for President Donald Trump, who has long claimed that many non-citizens vote in US elections and that mail-in ballots are vulnerable to fraud.
The Supreme Court's decision lifted a lower court order that had blocked the use of the Department of Homeland Security's Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program. SAVE is used to identify citizenship status and determine eligibility for benefits. The court stated that the lower court order preventing the use of SAVE "prevents the Federal Government from using the program it believes is best suited to the task." This ruling allows the Trump administration to use the program to verify the citizenship of individuals on the voter rolls.
The decision was not without dissent, however. The three liberal justices on the conservative-dominated court disagreed with the majority opinion. The Supreme Court's decision comes ahead of the November midterm elections, and Trump's administration has been keen to implement measures to prevent voter fraud. The use of the SAVE program is seen as a key part of this effort, although election experts say the impact on the midterm elections is likely to be limited.
Election experts have noted that most US states ban purges of voters 90 days ahead of an election, which limits the impact of the Supreme Court's decision. Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a blog post that "both the majority and dissent agree that this case is likely to have limited impact on the midterms." Hasen compared the decision to a recent mail-in voting case, saying that this one is "not very important substantively."
The Supreme Court's decision is a win for Trump, who has been vocal about his concerns over voter fraud. Earlier this month, the court blocked a Trump plan that would have restricted the use of mail-in ballots, a decision that Trump reacted to furiously. The Trump administration has been working to implement measures to prevent voter fraud, and the use of the SAVE program is seen as a key part of this effort.
The SAVE program is used by state and local election officials to verify the citizenship of voters. The program provides a way for officials to check the citizenship status of individuals who are registered to vote. The Supreme Court's decision allows the Trump administration to continue using the program to verify the citizenship of voters, which could potentially lead to the removal of non-citizens from the voter rolls.
The Supreme Court's decision has been welcomed by the Trump administration, which has been working to implement measures to prevent voter fraud. The decision is seen as a key victory for Trump, who has made voter fraud a central issue in his campaign. The use of the SAVE program is likely to continue to be a contentious issue, with liberals arguing that it could lead to the disenfranchisement of eligible voters.
Key points
- The US Supreme Court has granted a request from the Trump administration to use a federal database to verify the citizenship of voters.
- The decision allows the use of the Department of Homeland Security's Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program to identify potential non-citizens on the voter rolls.
- Election experts say the impact of the decision on the midterm elections is likely to be limited, due to state laws banning purges of voters 90 days ahead of an election.
